Angelenos will often tell you that that Halloween brings the hot, gusty Santa Ana winds. Whistling and powerful, they blow trick-or-treating witches and goblins down the streets, send ghost costumes madly flying, and raise the hair on your head, crackling with electricity. The air even smells charged and different. Branches, leaves and other untethered objects come flying at you at any moment. The night is filled with loud crashes and odd sounds. Santa Anas are downright spooky.
We call them the “Santa Anas” (an accepted local mispronunciation, like saying “San Peedro,” not the correct “San Paydro,” referring to LA’s major harbor). But they are really the “Santana” or “devil winds,” and were named such by the Southland’s early Spanish settlers.
Santa Anas can reach velocities of 50 mph or more. They always signal dry weather conditions that increase risk of wildfires all around Los Angeles County. So it is a time when residents—whether they know it or not—find themselves a bit anxious or on edge. American (and local) mystery writer Raymond Chandler captured this feeling beautifully in a famous excerpt from his 1938 detective story “Red Wind”:
“There was a desert wind blowing that night. It was one of those hot dry Santa Anas 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. You can even get a full glass of beer at a cocktail lounge.”
References to the hot Santa Ana winds pepper songs and literature by many LA-based musicians and authors (the Beach Boys, Joan Didion, Bret Easton Ellis, etc.). Blustery and powerful, the devil winds lend an eerie atmospheric touch to Halloween that locals know only too well. Candle-lit jack-o-lanterns will struggle to keep their flickering grins aglow when the Santa Anas begin to blow!
