Diablo wind

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Diablo wind is a rarely-used term for the hot, dry offshore wind from the northeast that typically occurs in the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California during the Spring and Fall. The term was first used by some in the local news media in the aftermath of the Oakland Hills Firestorm of 1991, perhaps in imitation of another, more familiar hot dry wind in Southern California known as the Santa Ana wind. The name may have been coined from the observation that the wind blows into the inner Bay Area from the direction of the Diablo Valley.

Unlike the Santa Ana wind which is a downslope wind draining air off the high deserts, the so-called Diablo wind originates from areas of strongly sinking air aloft, associated with the proximity of storms just north of California. As the air sinks, it heats up by compression. This heat is in addition to heat picked up by the wind as it crosses the Central Valley and the Diablo Valley. If the pressure gradient is strong enough, winds can become quite strong and gusty, particularly along and in the lee of the ridges of the Coast Range where the air stream is forced to squeeze over them.

While the Diablo occurs in both the Spring and Fall, it is most dangerous in the Fall when vegetation is at its driest.

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