Fueled by powerful winds and dry conditions, a series of ferocious wildfires erupted last week and roared across the Los Angeles area.

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 recent days, however, the region’s powerful Santa Ana winds—which have been fanning the flames—have begun to slow down. This lull has offered firefighters a reprieve and a key opportunity to make progress against the blazes, but forecasts suggest the Santa Ana will return next week. What are these gusts, and how have they become so strong?

The iconic landscape of Los Angeles County and its surrounding region have been forever transformed by a massive, multi-front firestorm that has leveled an area more than twice the size of

Even as four wildfires continued to burn in Los Angeles County Wednesday, the blazes were already rewriting the record books.

The Palisades Fire, the largest and the first to spark, has grown quickly because of the dry and vicious Santa Ana winds after igniting Tuesday morning. As of Friday, the fire has scorched through 20,438 acres in Malibu and Pacific Palisades and is at 8% containment as of 10:43 a.m., according to Cal Fire.

Wildfires continue to rage through Los Angeles leaving at least 24 dead and destroying more than 12,000 structures.

Wildfires are tearing through thousands of acres in Los Angeles County in California, as strong Santa Ana winds stoke the blazes.

The US National Weather Service has warned that hurricane-force winds had the potential of fuelling the already raging wildfires. Red flag warnings from Central California to the Mexican border remain in place until late Wednesday.

Strong winds are fueling fires and kicking up dust, leading to dangerously poor air quality across the South Coast Air Basin.

See maps of where mandatory evacuation orders as well as warnings are in place for wildfires burning in the Los Angeles area.

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