struction caused by winds in Santa Ana, CA.
Weather.com (excerpts):  More than 200,000 people in Southern California, and thousands more in Utah, are still waiting for power to be restored after this week's epic windstorm.  The powerful winds that tore across Western states Wednesday through Friday created a path of destruction that closed schools, left neighborhoods with a snarl of downed trees and power lines and prompted some communities to declare emergencies.  The storms, described as a once-in-a-decade event, were the result of a dramatic difference in pressure between a strong, high pressure system and a cold, low pressure system, meteorologists said.  This funnels strong winds down mountain canyons and slopes.  Northern Santa Ana winds sweeping down through canyons created gusts comparable to a hurricane.  At one point, peak sustained winds at the summit of Mammoth Mountain, California were the same as a strong category 4 hurricane.  

 The National Weather Service issued high wind warnings and wind advisories for parts of California, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico and Wyoming.  The winds reached 123 mph at a ski resort northwest of Denver and topped 102 mph in Utah.  In Arizona, authorities are urging motorists to delay travel plans, as they deal with traffic that was backed up 20 miles in the northern part of the state.  The Arizona Department of Transportation says eastbound lanes of Interstate 40 between Flagstaff and Bellemont still were closed Thursday evening due to accidents.  One involved nine vehicles.  A department spokesman says eastbound traffic was backed up 20 miles.  

 California, however, was the hardest hit.  The gusts were blamed for toppling semitrailers and causing trees to fall on homes, apartment complexes and cars.  In some neighborhoods concrete light poles cracked in half.  In heavily damaged Pasadena, schools and libraries closed and a local emergency, the first since 2004, was declared.  In Utah, about 50,000 customers lost power along the state's 120 mile Wasatch Front, as high winds took down power lines, but service was restored to more than half of them by Thursday night.  On Interstate 15, strong gusts blew more than 10 semi-trucks onto their sides, prompting authorities to temporarily close the highway to trucks.  Commuter train travel was also interrupted after debris covered the tracks.  Davis County issued a disaster declaration to request state assistance, citing more than 3.5 million in estimated damage to infrastructure.  The Red Cross opened three centers to provide food and aid to people affected by the storm and opened one overnight shelter in Ogden.  In Steamboat Springs, Colorado, the roof of a four story condominium complex was blown off and about 100 trees were blown over, some landing on homes.  A ski area shut down its lifts after a gust of 123 mph.  

Commentary:  This is right in line with the many other storms raging throughout the world, and which point to Bible prophecy for these last days, "You will be visited of the Lord with thunder, earthquake, great noise, with storm and tempest, and the flame of devouring fire" Isaiah 29:6.  We have already seen record-breaking earthquakes and fires raging throughout the world in the last year as well.  These are the warning signs, according to the scriptures, that we all need to pray, repent and prepare for His appearance.  "The Lord is slow to anger and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked: the Lord has His way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of His feet" Nahum 1:3.