<p>The Santa Ana winds flow down mountain slopes, growing ever hotter as they descend.  To my amazement, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Ana_winds" rel="nofollow noreferrer">popular explanations</a> of these winds even attribute them to specific mountain passes.  Suppose for a moment that a large government subsidy pumped as much free desalinated water all the way up from the coast up to these passes and the nearby slopes as farmers could spray on pistachios, almonds, tomatoes ... any water intensive crop they can think of to plant there.  Would the amount of water vapor released this way be sufficient to cause the winds to rise instead of falling, causing air to remain stagnant or come inward from the California coast rather than going out as Santa Ana wind?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-06-18T08:21:59.203Z
So, have you read the article you linked? Are you aware of how the winds come into existence? Do you feel that spraying a bit of water would be sufficient to moisten a whole pressure system?
Erik
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-06-18T18:59:21.967Z
I understand that the Santa Ana winds start as cold air on top of a high plateau, and I don't imagine that the pressure behind them can be *stopped*.  However, I'm not very clear on why Santa Ana winds at low altitude, being hotter than the air they displace, do not rise.  With a bit of water vapor added, just over half the weight of N2/O2, might they be prevented from descending with the ground level?  If Santa Ana winds are not "strong", maybe a coastal breeze could be drawn in to merge with them from below, holding them above the ground?  (I'm *not* an expert and I don't know these things)
Mike Serfas
<wind><water-vapour>
Could irrigation stop the Santa Ana winds?
Mike Serfas
# Could irrigation stop the Santa Ana winds?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2021-06-17)

The Santa Ana winds flow down mountain slopes, growing ever hotter as they descend. To my amazement, [popular explanations](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Ana_winds) of these winds even attribute them to specific mountain passes. Suppose for a moment that a large government subsidy pumped as much free desalinated water all the way up from the coast up to these passes and the nearby slopes as farmers could spray on pistachios, almonds, tomatoes ... any water intensive crop they can think of to plant there. Would the amount of water vapor released this way be sufficient to cause the winds to rise instead of falling, causing air to remain stagnant or come inward from the California coast rather than going out as Santa Ana wind?

**Tags:** wind, water-vapour

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: So, have you read the article you linked? Are you aware of how the winds come into existence? Do you feel that spraying a bit of water would be sufficient to moisten a whole pressure system?  
> **username_0**: I understand that the Santa Ana winds start as cold air on top of a high plateau, and I don't imagine that the pressure behind them can be *stopped*.  However, I'm not very clear on why Santa Ana winds at low altitude, being hotter than the air they displace, do not rise.  With a bit of water vapor added, just over half the weight of N2/O2, might they be prevented from descending with the ground level?  If Santa Ana winds are not "strong", maybe a coastal breeze could be drawn in to merge with them from below, holding them above the ground?  (I'm *not* an expert and I don't know these things)  

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## 0 answers

