Sundowners are particularly dangerous during wildfire season because the air heats and dries as it descends from the mountains to the sea.
[3] A sundowner quickly burned a swath from the mountains through populated areas and across Highway 101 into Hope Ranch during the 1990 Painted Cave Fire.
[4] The etymology of the word sundowner is uncertain, but it may derive from the Spanish term zonda, or from the Arabic simoom, which are both similar wind phenomena.
Higher elevations of hills can correlate with huge temperature rises compared with lower elevations, and can rival those seen in daytime heatwaves --- coastal inversion layer kept beaches (Pacific side of San Francisco) some 40 to 45 degrees fahrenheit cooler than hills at 2500 or 5000 feet (Mount Tamalpais) on afternoon of July 6, 2024.
Sundowners have caused similarly intense sharp temperature contrasts akin to these daytime inversion layers, but surprisingly at close to midnight, where California State Route 192 approximates the hot vs cool dividing line, in the Santa Barbara area.