Sundowner Winds
SUNDOWNER WINDS A Report on Significant Warming Events Occurring in Santa Barbara, California. Gary Ryan Weather Service Office Santa Maria, CA July 1991 SUNDOWNER WINDS. A REPORT ON SIGNIFICANT WARMING EVENTS OCCURING IN SANTA BARBARA, CALIFORNIA. INTRODUCTION. Along the Pacific coastline, beneath the ridges and canyons of the Santa Ynez Mountains, Santa Barbara, California enjoys some of the earth’s most favorable weather. Mediterranean in classification, the climate is vintage southern California: an average high temperature of about 70 degrees year round, a predominately winter season rainfall of about 16 inches a year and, generally, a light and variable wind pattern. The infamous Santa Ana winds which occasionally ravage the counties of Ventura, Los Angeles and Orange to the south leave the Santa Barbara area virtually untouched. The only disturbance to this idyllic picture comes when downslope winds pour across passes in the Santa Ynez Range, descending onto the Santa Barbara littoral. These winds are “sundowners,” Santa Barbara’s special version of the Santa Ana regime. Sundowners frequently occur in the late afternoon or evening hours – hence the name. Light sundowners create irregular rises in temperature downtown with gentle offshore breezes. Stronger sundowners, occurring two or three times a year, can create sharp temperature rises, local gale force winds, and significant weather-related problems. Rarely, probably about a half dozen times in a century, an “explosive” sundowner occurs. These extremely strong and hot winds present a dangerous weather situation. In these events, super heated air from the Santa Ynez Valley bursts across the Santa Ynez Mountains and onto the coastal plain, reaching gale force or higher speeds within the city.
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