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Moderately Strong Santa Ana Wind Coming

Jan 26, 2012; 2:06 PM ET

An inside slider moving through the Northwest today will move east of California tonight. Behind that, a large surface high will build over the Great Basin Friday and Saturday and will bring a round on moderately strong Santa Ana winds.

The winds begin first in north-south oriented passes and canyons and across the mountains around the LA Basin Friday with speeds increasing to 20 to 40 mph by afternoon. Also, locally gusty winds will develop on the south coast of Santa Barbara County.

The strongest winds will wait until Friday night and Saturday morning. That is when the pressure gradient will become the strongest and from the northeast. It is also when upper-level winds will align with that surface gradient, when some cold advection occurs and when subsidence is the best. All these factors help to determine the strength of the Santa Ana winds.

Here is the CANSAC MM5 wind projection for 12Z Saturday.

The strongest winds will be on the mountaintops, but nobody lives there. Where people live, winds in the typically prone areas are likely to average 25 to 50 mph with a few higher gusts. This will cause some hazardous travel conditions, especially for high-profile vehicles.

Outside the windy areas, the rest of Southern California will have excellent weather with sunny skies and warm temperatures with the warmest temperatures on Saturday being along the coastal plain.

There are no signs, I repeat no signs, of any more rain in the next 10 days for southern California.

The views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of AccuWeather, Inc. or AccuWeather.com

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About This Blog

Ken Clark
Ken Clark's Western U.S. weather blog tackles daily weather events with commentary from one of the most experienced and trusted Western U.S. weather experts.

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