Wednesday notes

Well, we finally got to see the sun this morning. Even if it was a very watery affair. The clouds are trying to break, although the wind remains a brisk southerly.

The wildfires in California have made it into the tropical weather review on the NHC website, as the smoke drifts into the Eastern Pacific as far west as the 130th degree longitude. Half a million people have had to be evacuated, one person has died and 1,300 properties have so far been destroyed in blazes that stretch from Santa Barbara to the Mexican border. Oh, the wildfires have also delayed the filming of several TV shows. Shock horror.

The weather situation will change to the extent that the Santa Ana winds are expected to subside later in the week. The Gulf of Tehuantepec, south of Mexico, saw winds up to 50 knots, force 10 on the Beaufort scale, overnight. This is called the Gap Wind, something that normally occurs during the cool season. The high pressure system, which stretches from the Rockies right down into central Mexico, is responsible for both the Santa Ana and the Tehuantepec wind events.

I was pleased to hear that 54 miners, trapped in a goldmine near Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, were rescued from their entrapment following a fire. This was brought under control by the mine's fire suppression system.