We had some very strong winds these last couple of days and last night was the last of it. The highest recorded wind speed in my immediate are was 78 miles per hour and 140 miles per hour up in the mountains. These were what we locally refer to as the Santa Ana winds—offshore winds that come in from the desert and speed up as they force their way around the mountains and down the passes. Some sources say that these winds were originally called Satanás winds (from the Spanish word for satan). They are definitely some hellish winds. In the summer they tend to fuel the wildfires, and other time like this weekend they bring down several trees and power lines.

They make driving a little more difficult and make you weary of tall trees. However, my mind being the way that it is had me imagining myself on some far off alien world with fierce windstorms and I was taking shelter inside some research facility as the winds howled outside. Not unlike what you see in those research outposts in Antarctica. That’s one experience I would have like to have had. Living on that continent for one year and see the sun circle around you just above the horizon during the peak of summer and to see the days where no day ever comes. It fascinates me think of places on earth that can be that otherworldly.