I live in a valley that is always windy. From October through April, the wind blows from the north and east. Every afternoon during the rest of the year, the onshore breeze carries cool ocean air into our otherwise stifling valley. Today, however, neither of those things happened. The air has been dead still all day. It’s very peaceful, but it also feels like, well, the literal calm before the storm.

It’s supposed to rain next week, but before then, the temperature is supposed to jump up into the 80s again tomorrow. That usually means northeast wind. I don’t like it when the wind blows from the north or east. They call it The Santa Anas. Wind shouldn’t have a name. We only name bad weather. There’s something sinister about the Santa Ana wind. It’s an angry wind.