Mother Nature is such a cruel bitch sometimes. Not that it helps or will likely help, but lots of thoughts and prayers for everyone dealing with this unimaginable shitstorm out there tonight.
Simple graphic but explains the Santa Ana wind phenomenon as much as one can in a single picture.
The pressure gradient gets extremely tight when you are dealing with a very strong digging trough/low pressure system offshore CA vs. arctic airmass/high pressure system in the Great Basin. That’s what is happening and causing this event to be so severe relative to other Santa Anas.
Same digging trough will dig further and move east by Thursday to set up shop to our WNW in west TX/NM which will bring the rain/snow/ice to TX/OK/AR.