MikeH
10-24-2003, 01:30 PM
Since I live in Pasadena, about 4 miles from Santa Anita, I thought I'd try to give everyone a sense of the weather for Breeders' Cup Day.
Note that I haven't played the Southern California tracks at all for over a year now, and I won't be playing on Saturday either...
First, a bit of geography...
Southern California is a huge plain, 100+ miles long and 50+ miles wide. On one side is the Pacific Ocean; on the other side, we are surrounded by a mountain range that is 5,000 - 10,000 feet high. Normally, the wind blows from the ocean, keeping us very mild. However, on the other side of the mountains is a vast desert, and, through factors that I don't understand, the desert air somehow comes over the mountains, against the prevailing winds, and "caps" or traps the air. This is called an "inversion" layer, and is what gives LA our notorious "smog."
I've never kept any records to prove / disprove this, but it has long been my belief that heat and smog will cause certain horses to "bleed through" their lasix. That's why I'm taking the time to explain all this. Hollywood Park (where the Breeders' Cup was held in 1997), is about 3 miles from the ocean; the air there (except for jet blast because they are right behind LAX) is much cleaner than in Arcadia, and the temperature much more moderate. Arcadia is about 30 miles from the ocean; the mountains that you see behind Santa Anita are part of the mountain chain that surrounds Southern California. The weather and smog there can be much different than at Hollywood Park.
Occasionally in the fall, the prevailing winds shift and we get what is called a "Santa Ana" condition. The winds shift and come off the desert, eliminating the ocean influence. Normally, while these winds bring heat, they are very dry, and they have sufficient strength to push the smog out. So we have heat, but clean air for a while.
As of Friday morning, the situation concerns me. We have a massive brush fire burning in the mountains behind Santa Anita, about 40 miles to the east. We have a "mild" Santa Ana condition, which is pushing the smoke from the fires westward over Pasadena and Arcadia. However, the winds are not strong enough to push the smoke and smog into the ocean (good news for the fire-fighters though!). At the present time, I have a small amount of ash from the fire that is falling on the window sill...
The current forecast is for the winds to accelerate this evening. If they do, it will be hot, but dry and smoke-free for tomorrow. If the situation stays as it is, we will have some heat but very lousy air for the Breeders' Cup.
If anyone is interested, I will get up early tomorrow morning and update this...
Good Luck tomorrow!
Note that I haven't played the Southern California tracks at all for over a year now, and I won't be playing on Saturday either...
First, a bit of geography...
Southern California is a huge plain, 100+ miles long and 50+ miles wide. On one side is the Pacific Ocean; on the other side, we are surrounded by a mountain range that is 5,000 - 10,000 feet high. Normally, the wind blows from the ocean, keeping us very mild. However, on the other side of the mountains is a vast desert, and, through factors that I don't understand, the desert air somehow comes over the mountains, against the prevailing winds, and "caps" or traps the air. This is called an "inversion" layer, and is what gives LA our notorious "smog."
I've never kept any records to prove / disprove this, but it has long been my belief that heat and smog will cause certain horses to "bleed through" their lasix. That's why I'm taking the time to explain all this. Hollywood Park (where the Breeders' Cup was held in 1997), is about 3 miles from the ocean; the air there (except for jet blast because they are right behind LAX) is much cleaner than in Arcadia, and the temperature much more moderate. Arcadia is about 30 miles from the ocean; the mountains that you see behind Santa Anita are part of the mountain chain that surrounds Southern California. The weather and smog there can be much different than at Hollywood Park.
Occasionally in the fall, the prevailing winds shift and we get what is called a "Santa Ana" condition. The winds shift and come off the desert, eliminating the ocean influence. Normally, while these winds bring heat, they are very dry, and they have sufficient strength to push the smog out. So we have heat, but clean air for a while.
As of Friday morning, the situation concerns me. We have a massive brush fire burning in the mountains behind Santa Anita, about 40 miles to the east. We have a "mild" Santa Ana condition, which is pushing the smoke from the fires westward over Pasadena and Arcadia. However, the winds are not strong enough to push the smoke and smog into the ocean (good news for the fire-fighters though!). At the present time, I have a small amount of ash from the fire that is falling on the window sill...
The current forecast is for the winds to accelerate this evening. If they do, it will be hot, but dry and smoke-free for tomorrow. If the situation stays as it is, we will have some heat but very lousy air for the Breeders' Cup.
If anyone is interested, I will get up early tomorrow morning and update this...
Good Luck tomorrow!