Talk:Diablo wind

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Cause[edit]

I see a reference added that states the cause as "strong high pressure" over Nevada, downsloping, etc. I have left this even though it is an oversimplified explanation and is partly redundant to the passage which follows it. I took some meteorology classes years ago in which it was explained that the local "Santa Ana" was actually not just a phenomenom of a strong offshore pressure gradient and downsloping, but also, of strongly sinking air from aloft produced by the outflow from storms to the north of California. In fact, an offshore pressure gradient often exists without the Diablo developing unless there is the added ingredient of significant upper level subsidence. I cannot find an online source for this presently, so I will leave the current edit for the time being. Tmangray 16:23, 10 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

The key difference between the "Diablo" and the Santa Ana is that the true Santa Ana is primarily a drainage wind when cool or even cold air from the high deserts flows downward toward the coast, being mainly channeled through canyons like a river flow. This cannot happen in Northern California because the Sierras block surface air from the high deserts. Our version of offshore winds actually come from the upper atmosphere, and as they descend, they are first noted not in canyons, but on the higher peaks such as Mount Diablo. Once they descend further, they can be enhanced by channeling in coastal canyons, but they are often just as strong or even stronger along the ridgelines. Tmangray (talk) 04:11, 27 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Origin of the Diablo wind term[edit]

Okay, we have a source suggesting that in 1923, 'Santa Ana wind' was the one and only term in use. I know it's hard to find sources for these kinds of things, but I feel that it would help if we can find a source suggesting that "Diablo wind" wasn't in use between 1923 and 1991. -Gordeonbleu 05:58, 22 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Good luck. It appears that the first use was by a local TV "weathercaster" in 1991 with sensationalist tendencies. The Weather Channel's glossary is merely copying media material from that event (the Oakland fire). Growing up in the Bay Area, I never heard the term, although I heard "Santa Ana" employed, erroneously of course, many times. Tmangray 15:37, 22 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I am looking to see if I can find a source as I first heard the term during the firestorm of 1964 from some older volunteer firefighters on the department I grew up in. BigWhiteFireDog (talk)

What "firestorm of 1964"? Tmangray (talk) 19:00, 1 August 2018 (UTC) The one my father was injured on and my mother and other reporters documented in Sonoma county and other areas in 1964.BigWhiteFireDog (talk)[reply]

Ah. okay. But different area than this article. I know of no big fire in the hills above Berkeley or Oakland in 1964. Tmangray (talk) 06:24, 8 August 2018 (UTC) No it's not as the winds occur around the a bay including the north bay, which experience major fire activity in 1964. The fires of 2017 were almost a repeat of those fires.BigWhiteFireDog (talk)[reply]

It's possible that the term "devil wind" was used earlier since this is a common term in many fireprone regions, not just in California. But the specific term DIABLO Wind is another matter. I never saw it in print, nor heard of it myself nor from family members who have been in the area since the 1800s. More than that, the additional claim attributing it to certain meteorologists is dubious without some citeable source. Tmangray (talk) 06:24, 8 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]

SO you didn't, while others have. I and my parents had heard the term back then.BigWhiteFireDog (talk)