What happened to the winds? Santa Anas Losing Strength, But Some Southern California Communities Are Still Enjoying – Orange County Register

Regularly, when the Santa Ana winds hit Southern CaliforniaThe entire Los Angeles area had to buckle up and brace for a glaring day with trees and leaves swaying everywhere.

But while strong winds blew in from the northern parts of the Inland Empire throughout Thursday, winds were significantly reduced in other areas.

That’s because of a pattern of high pressure over the Great Basin – a large area of ​​basins starting in the northern part of the Mojave Desert and extending as far as Oregon and Idaho – Casey Oswant, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in San Diego, said – significant loss of strength throughout the day.

“Overall, wind has less energy,” she says.

“Wind always wants to blow from high pressure to low pressure, so the bigger the difference between that high and low pressure system, the stronger the wind will be. Because the high-pressure system is currently weakening, there is little difference in pressure between those systems. “

That results in strong morning winds, which pull in wind patterns that are more localized and much more diffuse than in the rest of the region.

The winds blowing in from the Great Basin remain strong at their most concentrated points: the Cajon and San Gorgonio passes in San Bernardino County. Effectively, those passes act as wind funnels that blow gusts of wind through the communities of the Inland Empire just to the south. But without enough strength behind, the wind blew through Los Angeles and Orange counties.

The Weather Service’s wind notice remains in effect for most areas until 4pm

According to the Weather Service: Strongest local gusts of up to about 65 mph, according to the Weather Service: In Rancho Cucamonga at 3:50 a.m. and in Chino Hills at 7:10 a.m.

Trabuco Canyon saw gusts of about 54 mph at 4 a.m. And Murrieta and Lake Elsinore felt 35 mph at 4:50 a.m. and 2:30 a.m., respectively.

Jurupa Hill still feels gusts of about 44 mph at 10:30 a.m

Winds were much stronger near the San Gorgonio Pass later in the day.

Beaumont saw gusts of up to 47 mph until 11 a.m. Banning too, at about 37 mph.

“The bottom of the San Gorgonio Pass, it’s just a windier area,” says Oswant. “Even when we have weaker wind events, it’s always a bit windier there.”