This winter Southern California has enjoyed remarkable weather consistent with our image of the golden state. There has been an unusually consistent weather phenomenon we know here as the “Santa Ana Winds” or the “Devil Winds”.
Yearly usually from October to March and generated due to High Pressure weather patterns in the Great Basin, the area east of the Sierra Nevadas and Winter storm activity north of that area cause air to flow west sending dry fast moving air through Southern California. This air normally increases the temperature drops the humidity which leads to increased fire risk which led to disastrous fires throughout California this past year and then deadly mudslides with our first rains. Since last year was an El Nino pattern the rain led to more vegetation growth which when dried out amplified the fire risk with the santa ana winds.
The positive effect is on diving conditions whereas the off-shore winds knock down swells and surf and rotates the water offshore bringing clear water from depth and typically improving visibility. It seems like we may be getting a bit of a pause lately as we get some usual and somewhat necessary storm activity into our area for this time of year.
NBTT Dive Club 