Santa Ana winds gusting up to 87 miles per hour in Southern California’s mountains were expected to reach a peak midday on March 14 and weaken through the weekend, according to the National Weather Service.
The weather phenomenon usually hits the region from September through May, sending dry, blustery, and warm wind from the desert to the ocean, sweeping through inland Riverside and San Bernardino counties out to coastal Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties.
This week’s event produced the strongest Santa Ana winds so far this year, according to the National Weather Service in San Diego.
The highest wind recorded by noon Thursday was at Marshall Peak, in the San Bernardino Mountains about 75 miles east of Los Angeles, which had 87 mph gusts, according to the National Weather Service.
“It looks like the strongest winds we’ve seen with this event have been in the San Bernardino Mountains,” National Weather Service meteorologist Elizabeth Adams told California Insider.
The strong wind toppled several trees and damaged cars and houses in neighborhoods around southern Los Angeles County on Thursday.
The Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) responded to the 16600 block of West Victory Boulevard at about 2:15 a.m. in Lake Balboa and found branches from a massive tree had broken off, smashing a car parked in front of an apartment complex, the department reported.
Communications lines also fell and damaged another car parked on the boulevard. Los Angeles Department of Water and Power were notified.
On Valley Circle Boulevard in Chatsworth, a driver ran into a fallen tree in the early morning hours, according to news reports.
Winds also knocked down a tree on Lucas Street in San Fernando and on Locust Street in Pasadena, according to City News Service.
At about 11 a.m., when the winds were the strongest, a large tree fell onto a house in the 5400 block of Pineridge Drive, according to the LAFD. No one was hurt, City News Service reported.
The resident told reporters she heard the crash.
“It sounded like an explosion, to be honest,” she told local news. “I immediately ran upstairs, I was on the phone with my brother, I was like ‘something happened, a tree was through my house.’ I ran outside.”
A gardener was at the house and came to check on her, the woman said, but the tree damaged her living room and kitchen.
“If I had been at the sink, I’d have a tree through my head right now,” she said. “But I’m still in my pajamas. I haven’t even had a chance to even really fully process it.”
Two large trees also fell onto a home in the 1100 block of Beverly Way in Altadena, but no one was injured, according to City News Service.
In the San Bernardino Mountains, Arrowhead Springs recorded a gust of 83 mph, and Rancho Cucamonga, in the foothills of San Bernardino, had gusts up to 81 mph.
In Orange County, Freemont Canyon recorded gusts reaching 80 mph, according to Ms. Adams.
The Southern California region from Orange County and the Inland Empire, which includes Riverside and San Bernardino counties, had sustained winds of 35 mph, Ms. Adams said.
“[The winds] are going to peak within the next hour or two and come down this afternoon and evening,” Ms. Adams said at noon Thursday. “There will be periods of a lot weaker winds, but offshore winds will persist throughout the weekend.”
In Los Angeles County, the winds were expected to diminish throughout the area Thursday afternoon, but linger in the foothills, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Rich Thompson in Oxnard, California.
“They will be nowhere near as strong tonight and tomorrow morning,” Mr. Thompson told California Insider.
Browns Canyon, about 30 miles northwest of Los Angeles, recorded gusts of 78 mph. The gusts also reached 67 mph at the Hollywood-Burbank Airport at 8:09 a.m., and 52 mph at the Camarillo Airport.
“People hiking out there are probably running into some pretty strong winds,” Mr. Thompson said.
The National Weather Service cautioned residents, saying the gusts could down trees, tree limbs, and powerlines.
