Last night, I went to bed and dreamed I’d landed among the trains of Fillmore. When I woke up and looked outside, the fence was torn to pieces, and leaves were everywhere! What I thought was a train turned out to be the fiercest wind storm I’ve ever seen!
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I wandered through the streets in shock until I came to Pasadena’s Central Park, which was absolutely shredded! Huge trees had either been uprooted or snapped in half by wind gusts up to 100 miles per hour in some areas! That’s the equivalent of an F1 tornado or Category 2 hurricane! The city of Pasadena was in a state of emergency because 325 miles of streets had been covered by tree debris! 100,000 homes and businesses lost power, and some won’t even be back up until Sunday!
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So which Big, Bad Wolf blew down the city of Pasadena? Well, actually, the winds are named Santa Ana after Santa Ana Canyon, one of the many channels that compress the wind and make it so fast. The winds start as cold air in Nevada’s Great Basin, a high-pressure front compressed between the Rockies and the Sierra Nevadas. When its pressure gets too high, as in, higher than that on the coast, it pushes through canyons like Santa Ana into southern California, drying out plants, fueling wildfires, and knocking over trees! In short, it’s bad news, especially if you’re a squirrel!
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As I wandered around Pasadena, I had a moment of silence for the fallen giants before the chainsaws kicked in and I had to leave. It was amazing to behold, a terrifying reminder of just how powerful Mother Nature’s wrath can be!
See you in OZ!
