Hey Group,
I know that desert like the back of my hand, as for 5 years, I spent many weekends out there until it was too hot to do anything. I thought I'd pass along what I know about the area so that you would gain a better understanding as what is working so diligently against the firefighters' efforts.
Heading south on the I10, once you reach Beaumont and Banning, you are now in an intermediary zone for vegetation. Here, you have mix of highly combustible biomes: desert and chaparral. Of course, the farther south you go, the more desert vegetation you'll find until it's solid creosote bush, sage grass, smoke tree, and the like. Also, the substrate becomes sandier near the bajadas (aprons) of the mountains and, caliche, or desert pavement, is dominant in the valleys.
But even before you get to Beaumont and Banning, the I10 takes you through San Timeteo Canyon. This pass narrows the flow of air and like the Santa Ana winds and Diablo winds, the result is faster, hotter winds. The wind is now a prevailing wind that cuts through the middle with the San Gorgonio Mountains to the left, and the San Jacinto's on the right.
If you go to the area and poke around, you'll find ventifacts--rocks that this prevailing wind has carved, most of which are granite. I've never been in this area where the wind wasn't blowing. The sand feels like a blaster on your bare skin. And this time of the year, it's so darned hot, you could fry and egg on that caliche. Oh, and let's not forget all the nocturnal critters that are buried in that deep sand next to the mountains: sidewinders, tarantulas, and a few other species of snakes. I've stepped up to my hip in a sidewinder's dune, so it's easily done.
I don't know how these brave firefighters are going to stop that fire from reaching Palm Springs, but there is a point where the 111 veers away from the I10 where there is an enormous rocky outcrop that has quite a bit of marble in it. If they will stop it anywhere, then it will be there.
Those poor folks in Cabazon--I always thought that a rockslide would take out the village on the west side of the I10. I never thought about a fire.
Lin
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