The Origin of The Los Angeles Wildfires
9 hours ago Guest Blogger
From the Cliff Mass Weather Blog
Cliff Mass
My group and scientists from the University of Albany are now studying the meteorology of the LA wildfires earlier this month and have significant early results. At the American Meteorological Society meeting last week, I attended many wildfire meteorology sessions and talked to several colleagues who have actively studied such events. The LA fires were a topic of considerable discussion.
We have a good idea of what happened: an extreme/unusual Santa Ana event associated with severe downslope winds. In this blog, I will show you some early simulations and explain why this event occurred.
I will also describe why climate change did not play a significant role.
As I will explain below, this is not only a Santa Ana event, but an unusual one, with extreme winds descending to lower elevations. Some lower-elevation stations, such as Burbank, experienced their strongest wind gusts on record. Model simulations suggest the development of what is known as a high-amplitude mountain wave leading to a downslope windstorm event.
Santa Ana 101
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2025/01/20/the-origin-of-the-los-angeles-wildfires/
