![\"thermometer.jpg\"](\"http:\/\/capnbob.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/06\/thermometer.thumbnail.jpg\")
Yesterday marked the 148th anniversary of an astounding weather event. <\/p>\nYesterday marked the 148th anniversary of an astounding weather event. <\/p>\n
California, like other regions, experiences occasional hot, dry winds; that is, when the air heats up due to downslope compressional heating. In Southern California these are called “Santa Ana winds,” while in Colorado, “Chinook winds” and in Bavaria, “Föhn winds.” In the deserts of North Africa, the Arabic word “Simoon” applies.<\/p>\n
What causes these winds? Short answer: insolation<\/a>, advection<\/a> and the adiabatic heating<\/a> process. Sorry, Al<\/a>, you can’t blame this event on SUVs or carbon footprints.<\/p>\n \nJune 17, 1859 – The only ‘simoon’ ever to occur in the United States The record 133° temperature has been discredited since that time due to the thermometer having been in direct sunlight. However this vivid description from A History of the Aguajitos Ranch<\/strong> paints a picture that the temperature must have come very close to that:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \nTHE SUN COMES UP bright that day. It is a Friday-June 17, 1859. There By noon, people begin to notice something unusual is happening. The The superheated air continues to pour down on the coast for the next For the next three hours the temperature hovers at 130 degrees; by 5 ‘Birds had plummeted dead from the sky; others had flown into wells ‘Calves, rabbits and cattle died on their feet,’ adds a government report.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Yesterday marked the 148th anniversary of an astounding weather event. California, like other regions, experiences occasional hot, dry winds; that is, when the air heats up...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":190,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-california","category-global-warming"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/capnbob.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/capnbob.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/capnbob.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/capnbob.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/190"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/capnbob.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1231"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/capnbob.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1231\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/capnbob.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/capnbob.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/capnbob.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nis reported by a United States Coast Survey vessel off Goleta. A
\nnorthwest wind brings scorching temperatures of 133 degrees between
\n1:00 and 2:00 that afternoon. Birds fall from the sky, crops shrivel
\nand cattle die under the shade of oak trees.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\nis a little breeze from the northeast, a clear sky, and the promise of
\na warm day. The morning temperatures are normal, 75-to-80 degrees,
\nwith an offshore breeze that prevents the ocean from having a cooling
\neffect.<\/p>\n
\ntemperature has quickly risen to almost 100 degrees and the mountain
\nbreeze is becoming stronger and stronger. About 1 pm a heavy blast of
\nhot air sweeps through the Goleta Valley from the direction of Santa
\nYnez Peak, driving even the hardiest into the shelter of their homes
\nand filling them with terror; they think the end of the world has
\ncome.<\/p>\n
\nhour. By 2 pm the temperature is an incredible 133 degrees! Many of
\nthe people take refuge behind the thick walls of Daniel Hill’s adobe,
\nwho is owner of Rancho La Goleta, where they pray fervently for the
\noppressive heat to be lifted.<\/p>\n
\npm it has cooled off only slightly, to 122 degrees. The inhabitants
\nwonder if this will ever come to an end. Then suddenly, as fast as it
\nhas come, the hot breeze dies and a cool marine breeze washes over the
\nland. By 7 pm the temperature is a comfortable 77 degrees and the
\nhalf-baked citizens emerge from their houses to see what damage has
\noccurred.<\/p>\n
\nseeking cooler air and drowned,’ says Walker Tompkins, describing the
\nevent in his book, Goleta the Good Land. ‘A fisherman in a rowboat
\nmade it in to the Goleta sandspit with his face and arms blistered as
\nif he had been exposed to a blast furnace.’<\/p>\n