National Weather Service explains "particularly dangerous situation" alert
There was little time to escape by the time hurricane-force winds and fire tore through Palisades and Altadena last week, but thanks to the National Weather Service many knew the winds were coming days before it arrived.
Their predictions and warnings most likely saved many lives.
These kinds of winter Santa Anas are always our strongest Santa Ana," NWS meteorologist Carol Smith said. "Typically, there not as destructive because when you get to this time of year you hoped you had some rain."
With major concerns surrounding its wind forecast, the NWS issued a rare "particularly dangerous situation alert."
The advisory is often used in the lead-up to hurricanes and tornadoes. However, four years ago forecasters started issuing PDS alerts for windstorms in Southern California that can create extreme and explosive fire behavior.
PDS alerts were issued for the Mountain Fire in Ventura and Malibu's Franklin Fire in December. In the four years since its introduction in California, the NWS has rarely issued two PDS alerts in two months. However, the bone-dry conditions with no rain forced the dire warnings.
"The idea is that they are kind of rare," Smith said. "But, we've had four this season."
Weather forecasting is not an exact science, with NWS issuing two PDS alerts this week only for some of the fierce winds to not materialize.
"We aim for a perfect forecast," Smith said. "Doesn't always work out. The science is inexact. Sometimes we overshoot it a little bit and hopefully we don't undershoot it — like I said, that to me is the more critical situation."
With the winds failing to materialize this Wednesday, some living in the affected areas were relieved and understanding.
"It's good to be ahead of the game if you need to pack something," said Sylmar resident Riz Morales, who was within the last PDS alert. "I live right next to the mountains so if I need to evacuate or need to pack things that are sentimental it helps a lot."