Even though Christmas was less than a couple of week ago, Southern California has been hit by a heat spell. The temperature right now is around 75 degrees. I normally wouldn't mind, but this is being brought about by what it called a Santa Ana condition. Normally, the wind comes off of the ocean, which makes for clear skies and nice cool breezes. With the Santa Ana's, the wind is coming off of the desert. So, it is drying everything out. All that nice rain a couple of weeks ago, made for overgrown vegetation in the hills. Now, with this drying wind, it's making perfect conditions for brush fires. There are two now, that I know of. Both in Malibu. I came out this morning to find everything covered with a layer of black soot. And the far off smell of burning vegetation. The sky is a yucky brown color, due to the smoke and smog. And, to top things off, there has been a train crash in the city of Burbank. Somebody in a flatbed truck tried to go around the working crossing arms and got hit. So far, the only person killed was the truck driver. Even though two train cars derailed.
Posted by Valkyre at January 6, 2003 12:57 PM