Southern California is facing fierce fires fueled by the Santa Ana winds, which threaten homes and put firefighters to the test.

A rare Particularly Dangerous Situation warning has been issued for Southern California as a powerful and potentially damaging Santa Ana wind event​ is expected.

Meteorologists said there was a chance the winds would be as severe as those that fueled the Palisades and Eaton fires, but that different locations would likely be affected.

(KWTX) -One of the major factors that made the January Los Angeles fires so devastating was the very strong Santa Ana winds. This week we are talking with Alex Tardy, the Warning Coordination Meteorologist at the National Weather Service office in San Diego,

Southern California will continue to face "dangerous fire weather conditions" including strong Santa Ana winds and extremely low humidity through later this week, forecasters said Tuesday.

The Santa Ana winds are dry, powerful winds that blow down the mountains toward the Southern California coast. The region sees about 10 Santa Ana wind events a year on average, typically occurring from fall into January. When conditions are dry, as they are right now, these winds can become a severe fire hazard.

In early January 2025, just a week after New Year, furious 80 mph Santa Ana winds swept through SoCal. The winds are natural, occurring when cool, pressurized desert air heats and picks up speed as it races down a mountainside.

Extreme conditions helped drive the fast-moving fires that destroyed thousands of homes in the Pacific Palisades and Altadena.

Climate change made ferocious LA wildfires more likely: study Human-driven climate change set the stage for the devastating Los Angeles wildfires by reducing rainfall, parching vegetation, and extending the dangerous overlap between flammable drought conditions and powerful Santa Ana winds,

As a school committed to sustainability, it is crucial to educate students about the factors that made these fires so devastating.

New studies are finding the fingerprints of climate change in the Eaton and Palisades wildfires, which made some of extreme climate conditions — higher temperatures and drier weather — worse.

The Santa Ana winds tend to cause the same corridors to burn over and over again. Experts say the region needs to adapt.