Santa Ana
SAN-tah AH-nah
A hot, dry, katabatic wind that blows from the desert interior of Southern California toward the coast, most commonly from October through March. It arrives with extreme low humidity, gusting through mountain passes at near-hurricane speeds, and is the primary driver of the region's catastrophic wildfires. The wind is also credited — in folklore and in the nervous systems of those who live with it — with inducing anxiety, insomnia, and bad decisions.
Etymology
Most likely named for Santa Ana Canyon in Orange County, through which the wind funnels on its way to the coast. A persistent folk etymology claims "Santa Ana" is a corruption of "Santana," supposedly meaning "devil wind" in Spanish or an Indigenous language, but no evidence supports this. Raymond Chandler immortalized the wind in his 1938 story "Red Wind": "those hot dry Santa Anas that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch." Joan Didion gave it its definitive essay treatment in "Los Angeles Notebook."
Notes
You live with this wind. It's the first entry you should write in your own voice.
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