Los Angeles faces renewed wildfire threat as more destructive Santa Ana winds remain in forecast

LOS ANGELES — Southern California is getting to get a much-needed break Saturday morning from the relentless Santa Ana winds whose destructive wind-fueled firestorms left at least 10 people dead and neighborhoods in ruins.

The break won't last long, with additional damaging Santa Ana wind threats and critical fire weather danger continuing at times over the next several days.

WHAT ARE THE SANTA ANA WINDS?

While winds are not expected to reach the extreme levels seen during Tuesday night’s storm that registered widespread gusts from 80-100 mph, potentially damaging winds remain in the forecast into next week as the weather pattern features renewed offshore wind threats.

But firefighters will take a reprieve from the winds that will last from Friday afternoon through Saturday – with even a brief shift to onshore winds that will increase the humidity from bone-dry levels of the last several days. 

The lingering wind alerts from the week of damaging winds expire Friday afternoon, and gusts Friday night and Saturday are expected to only reach 20-30 mph in the mountains and 10 mph or less in the valleys.

Some strong offshore wind returns Saturday night

A more "classic Santa Ana" wind event will bring a return of gusts to 40-50 mph in the mountains and their passes Saturday evening, with lower speeds in the valleys but still enough to fan the flames of any burning wildfire. Fire Weather Watches are in effect for Los Angeles and Ventura Counties. 

Santa Ana wind gusts will hold into Sunday morning, then another break in the gusty winds is expected from Sunday afternoon through Monday. 

Another potentially dangerous round of Santa Ana winds next week

Now, meteorologists are keeping a wary eye on the forecast for the middle of next week. 

"The overall pattern looks something similar to what we saw earlier this week," said FOX Weather Meteorologist Ian Oliver. "High pressure up across portions of the Intermountain West. You get the northeast wind channel and down through some of those mountain passes, descending, compressing, warming and drying out as it approaches the coastline."

The drying aspect will once again drop relative humidity levels into the teens or single digit percentages. Forecast models predict a relative humidity of just 9% in Los Angeles on Tuesday afternoon. 

Meanwhile, wind gusts will near or exceed damaging levels in the Santa Ana wind-prone areas, especially in the mountains and passes around the Los Angeles area.

"There is great concern that fire weather conditions could become exacerbated given the antecedent conditions, little rain across the area since the Spring of 2024, and another offshore wind event on top of all of what we have seen, so far," NWS Los Angeles forecasters wrote. "Residents are urged to stay tuned to the latest information and remain vigilant in steps to protect your life and property."

That bout of wind is forecast to wane on Wednesday. But how does Southern California get out of this dangerously dry and windy pattern?

"The big issue and what would fix all of this is some rain," Oliver said. 

There may indeed be a few raindrops falling from the skies over Southern California later next week as the long range forecast indicates another upper level low pressure center may drift off the coast.

"There is a 30 percent (chance) that it will pick up enough moisture to bring some very light rain to the southern portions of (Los Angeles) County," the NWS in Los Angeles said. But "rainfall if any, unfortunately, will be trivial.