The Santa Ana Wildfires fueled by blowing winds as high as 100 mph toward the coast of the Pacific coast, says a forecaster at the National Weather Service

Santa Ana winds blowing toward the coast have fueled this week’s fires. They are relatively common in the region, but not at this strength.

Over 67,000 people were forced to leave their homes as of Wednesday because of the fires, which have burned more than 10,000 acres each. Another 58,000 people have been warned to be prepared to leave at a moment’s notice.

Mike Wofford, a lead forecaster at the National Weather Service’s office in Oxnard, Calif., says the Santa Ana winds are most common during the cooler months from September through May. They are caused by high pressure over the desert of the southwestern U.S., that pushes through the mountain passages in Southern California toward an area of lower pressure off the Pacific coast.

The Inland Empire, as well as the coastal mountain range, and San Gabriel Mountains, are hit by the strong flow of air that comes out of Nevada, because of high pressure and lower pressure in southern California.

The main characteristic is that the winds are downhill, according to a professor at Columbia University’s Climate School.

As the air mass drops in altitude, it compresses and heats up — by about 10 degrees Celsius per kilometer (18 degrees Fahrenheit per 0.6 of a mile). She says it’s a very effective way to warm up the air.

“As the air warms up, it also decreases its humidity,” she says. Funneling through narrow mountain passes, it also speeds up in much the same way that air moving through a tunnel or the wind between buildings is stronger.

The result is wind gusts as high as 100 mph in some places, he says, adding that the current dry conditions mean, “everything is just primed and ready to go” for wildfires.

We have a lot of cars in the area. If one breaks down, overheats and someone pulls over next to an area where there’s some dry brush, that can kick it off,” he says.

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Park Williams, a professor of geography who heads the HyFiVeS Research Group (Hydroclimate, Fire, Vegetation, and Society) at UCLA describes the current scenario as a “highly improbable sequence of extreme climate and weather events over the past two years.”

However, while the winds aren’t unseasonal, climate change is increasing the risk of late- or early-season wildfires in California. “This is not only a particularly strong wind event, but is also a particularly dry season here in the beginning of January,” says Diffenbaugh. Southern California’s wet season, which runs from October through April, has seen record low precipitation, following one of the driest falls on record. As precipitation is more variable due to climate change, the overlap between the windy season and the dry season is increasing. Trudeau says that they are seeing a lot of hotter, dry, windy days in Southern California.

What role might climate change play? Warming of the atmosphere due to climate change can lead to the rapid spread of fires.

The winds are stronger than usual, thanks to a dip in the jet stream near the Baja Peninsula. The winds that are usually at the higher altitudes are reaching the lower terrain areas. “Every so many decades, we do get wind events of this magnitude,” he says.

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The governor said more than 7,000 personnel are responding to the fires. They are using helicopters, water tenders, air tankers and dozers to fight the fires.

“We just finished cleaning up from the Rose Parade of all things, and now this,” she said. The big thing that showed how great life is here was followed immediately by a show of how bad life can be.

They left their home in Pasadena with just toothbrush, laptops, and stuffed animals that belonged to their children when they were younger.

Those with pets and animals, as well as those who might need more time to evacuate, should do so because the fire poses an “immediate threat to life and/or property”.

The two fires that have been somewhat contained are Lidia 40% and Woodley 100%, according to the Cal Fire.

The Sunset fire broke out Wednesday night, encroaching on the Hollywood Hills and prompting mandatory evacuations in notable parts of the area, such as Mulholland Drive, Hollywood Boulevard and Runyon Canyon Park. By early Thursday morning, most of the evacuation zone had been lifted, said the Los Angeles Fire Department.

The National Weather Service (NWS) said a critical risk of fire remained in the area, as high winds, dry vegetation and low humidity are contributing to the infernos.

Nearly 30,000 acres remained burning early Thursday across Los Angeles County as firefighters struggled to control a patchwork of deadly blazes that has forced mass evacuations and leveled entire communities.

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A wind advisory will remain in effect until at least 2 p.m. PT on Friday. The NWS suggests that residents stay at least 100 feet away from the downed power lines and call for help.

“Every once in a while we get a much stronger Santa Ana wind event like what we had over the past 24 to 36 hours, in which case we ended up with a widespread, life-threatening and destructive windstorm.”

The winds can be as strong as 60 mph, a couple times a year according to the NWS Los Angeles/Oxnard.

Winds have gradually weakened since their peak earlier Wednesday, when the NWS recorded speeds as high as 90 mph in Henninger Flats and 89 mph at Saddle Peak.

“The confluence of factors — wind, fire and smoke — have created dangerous, complex situations that present unsafe conditions for our school communities,” the district said.

On Wednesday, President Biden made a major disaster declaration which provides federal funds to affected residents, by way of grants for temporarily housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses, and other programs to help individuals and business owners recover from the effects of the disaster.

“Southern California, we are with you. And we’re not letting up,” said the president, who on Wednesday canceled a planned trip to Italy to focus on the fire response.

There are red flag warnings through Friday for parts of Los ANGELES and Ventura counties due to the fires being out of control.