Spot fires ablaze on Painted Cave Road with fires threatening Santa Barbara below.
(Cave Fire, November 25, 2019)
Dear Friends:
If you live in coastal Santa Barbara you probably experienced evenings when it does not seem to cool enough and gusty winds blow from the Santa Ynez Mountains, often knocking down trees and causing gale force winds in canyons and passes. Sundowner winds are the most relevant fire weather factor and have fanned the flames of every major wildfire in Santa Barbara including last year's Cave Fire pictured above in the photo I took from near the San Marcos Trout Club.
While atmospheric conditions leading to Sundowners can be reasonably predicted a few days in advance, little is known about when and where these winds will be the strongest, how long they will last and how dry and hot conditions will be.
Please join me for a conversation about the Sundowner Winds Experiment (SWEX) with Dr. Leila M. V. Carvalho, Professor at UCSB's Department of Geography and researcher at the Earth Research Institute, entitled: Sundowner Winds and wildfires: how science along with the local community can work together to improve resilience to fire related disasters in Santa Barbara.
Date and Time: November 12, 2020 at 5:30-6:30 pm
ZOOM Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83659870194
Dr. Carvalho earned a PhD. in Atmospheric Sciences from the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil. She will discuss some of the mysteries of Sundowners, what her team has learned about these winds through atmospheric research with weather balloons, what they plan to do to improve the predictability of Sundowners and how we can use scientific information to evaluate our risks to better protect our communities from wildfire risks.
I hope you will join me and Dr. Carvalho for this important discussion. Please reply back to me if you can attend. I will also be sending a calendar invite to you.
Gordon Sichi
San Marcos Trout Club