The hot, bone dry Santa Ana winds have been blowing in Southern California over the last few days. They remind me of stories that gripped my imagination long before I moved west and experienced their understated ferocity. I first heard about the dry Alpine foehn, or föhn winds that have tormented European mountain folk for centuries, but similar winds disrupt other parts of the world as well.

The ratio of positive to negative ions is unusually high during the periods of foehn winds, but if you are sensitive to such things, you don't need a physicist to tell you that. Oddly enough the winds usually develop when the desert is cold, rather than hot. High pressure builds and cold air is forced down the mountains, compressing and warming the air as it goes. As the temperature rises, the humidity drops and the air continues to pick up speed as it gets pushed through passes and canyons. Sometimes the winds quickly increase the temperature by up to 54 degrees.

What has always intrigued me — in a kind of mysterious, scary way — is the mood-altering capacity of these winds. People start to behave strangely and sometimes become almost possessed. Migraines are common, along with nervousness and depression. There are more suicides and accidents. Murder rates increase and in some courts the wind is considered a mitigating factor in responsibility for crimes.

As noir writer Raymond Chandler famously described it in his opening lines of Red Wind, "There was a desert wind blowing that night. It was one of those hot dry Santa Ana's that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch. On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands' necks. Anything can happen."

During these windy times in California, that anything is likely to include forest fires (one burns in Santa Barbara even now), and the ocean can get riled up or preternaturally still.

Nature has interesting ways of reminding us of our connection to the natural world. We may be able to control the temperature with our sealed houses and air conditioning, or take remedies for migraines, but nature is stronger than we are and won't ever let us forget it.

Photo by Larry Page