These are the winds that fatally change the fire in Los Angeles.

The intense desert wind became a mountain fire around Los Angeles this month, and turned into a devastated ragged taiga. They also tried to match the flames to the pattern.

The fire driven by the Santaanana wind has been a notorious gust of the city northern mountains, which has been about 90 % of the area burning in the fall and winter mountains in Southern California since 1950. , Scientists estimated in recent research.

The strong wind, which is discovered, is the most important factor in explaining whether a large fire destroys the house or other structure there. It is not a dry weather, not a dense vegetation, and the human residence and wild space are not close to the community where you are commingle. Factors at the foot of the San Francisco Gulf region and the northern part of Sielanebada.

Such discoveries make a major question when Los Angeles reconstructed. How can this area be a fierce breeze, consistent, and a consistent and intimidating and threatening distance?

The wind -whimsical, invisible, changing shape -like the simplicity of nature may not seem like the simplest power of nature. Certainly, many of the winds surrounded by Los Angeles earlier this month were unusual for Southern California, including their ferocity, their position, and the long drought prior spells.

“This was a very unique junction in a situation that had not been gathered at all,” said Ariel Cohen, a meteorologist in the Los Angeles Office of the National Weather Service.

Nevertheless, scientists say they know enough about Santa Anas to make good preparations in some ways. We know that they are blown away every year and most of them are blown off in a cool few months. They know that they tend to move along a specific corridor and gorge, along the hill. There, a sturdy terrain runs and squeezes the desert air toward the sea.

John Keyry, a fire ecosologist at the US Geological Survey, states that wind power is a “easy -to -handle problem.” What is important for him is to know where the power company blocks power more accurately. This can stop many flames in the first place, but as Dr. Keyry acknowledged, “It's easier than saying.” (The authorities say that they are still investigating the biggest fire this month.)

Max Moritz, a wildfire specialist at the California University of Santa Barbara, said that development in areas where Santaanana was likely to occur could be more well -regulated. In California, individual buildings in vulnerable places are needed to meet the fire -resistant standard. However, there are no such standards for how to design a crowded area to keep the community away from flammable brushes, or to lay out the layout to help residents safely evacuate. “That's the next frontier,” said Dr. Moritz.

To understand how Santa ANAS is consistent but unpredictable, and is familiar but surprising, Dr. Cohen, a meteorologist, is the pancake batter. He said it would help to think.

The wind starts with a cool and dense air accumulated on Nevada and Utah, in a dry area known as the Great Basin. The atmosphere tries to make yourself correct by drawing this air toward the coast. Then, like a lump of dough over spilled from the bowl, the air begins to spread to the surrounding mountains. It leaks through a narrow path and a gorge. Roll down the slope. It is re -formed around an obstacle and rotates the vortex and turning.

The weather forecaster said that all of these air could narrow down the possibilities around Los Angeles and San Diego, and how fast it was when they arrived. However, they cannot definitely predict where the wind becomes the strongest. Also, of course, power lines and arson may cause a fire.

“I need only a small direction,” said Dr. Cohen, “And you will go to the disaster site after relatively calm,” said Dr. Cohen. Dr. Cohen said this kind of shift was a catastrophe in places such as Altadena, Barbank, and Glendale this month, and is usually not hit by the wind blowing. 。

Nevertheless, Southern California firefighters know which place to guide the wind very well, said Mike Roadde, a former captain of the Orange County Fire Bureau. They also know which areas they usually see in the early or second half of the season, according to the direction of the gorge. “I tend to run on the same road in the same way,” said Rode, “like water.”

California's architectural standards do not blind this fact. Cal Fire, a state -of -the -art mountain fire engine, specifies the “Fire Hazard Serious Zone” based on the climate including the history of burns, vegetation, terrain, and wind patterns. The house in these zones needs to be constructed according to higher standards. They need to maintain a buffer to the surroundings so that the flames do not spread and the firefighters work safely.

However, Cal Fire uses the same criteria throughout the state to determine the hazard zone. Alexandra size, a research and active scholar at the Institute of Conservative Biology, a non -profit science organization, is a specific regional difference, such as the destructive fire in Southern California is driven by the wind, not a dried vegetation. You may overlook.

When Santa Anana is completely exploding, throwing several thousands of feet members and burning the scenery around it is not a matter of how bad the fire is, mainly how thick the ground shrubs on the ground. Doctor's research suggests. “The fire is spreading in the air, not vegetation,” she said.

In a statement in e -mail, Cal Fire stated that it used local data to estimate the fire action on a fine scale, which took into account the differences in the area when setting up the hazard zone. Experts say that manage vegetation in Southern California is an important strategy to reduce the risk of summer wildfire.

Former battalion chief, Rodod, said that the larger question about the fire corridor in the area was whether it would make sense to rebuild it.

“We know that the fire will recover in these places, and we know it will do it for years,” said Rode. “We can't keep harming people.”