LOS ANGELES – Another moderate to strong Santa Ana wind event is expected to develop across Southern California during the first half of the workweek, heightening wildfire dangers in a region still coping with the last significant firestorm from nearly two weeks ago.
Many communities from Santa Barbara through Los Angeles County and into San Diego are under a Fire Weather Warning beginning at 10 a.m.
Monday morning until at least 10 p.m. Tuesday night, according to the National Weather Service office in Oxnard, California.
The NWS said sustained winds are expected to reach 30 mph, with gusts up to 60 mph downwind of the mountains.
Additionally, relative humidity values are expected to plummet to less than 10%, which will allow vegetation to quickly burn if flames break out.
“If fire ignition occurs, conditions are favorable for extreme fire behavior and rapid fire growth, which would threaten life and property,” meteorologists warned.
The NWS warns residents in the Los Angeles/Ventura County Santa Ana wind corridor to stay alert, monitor the forecast and listen to orders from emergency officials in the coming days.
A series of wet winters, followed by a sudden dry spell since last spring, has set the region up for a period of active fire weather that is usually seen during the summer and fall.
According to the latest US Drought Monitor, only 36% of the Golden State is officially in a drought, but the dry conditions are affecting all of Southern California.
Since the start of the year, Los Angeles has seen a rainfall deficit of nearly 2 inches of precipitation, with San Diego closer to a 1-inch deficit.
The 2025 rainfall deficits do not tell the whole story, as both cities are closer to 6 inches and 4 inches below average, respectively, since July.
Authorities warn that the lack of precipitation has caused the underbrush to significantly dry out, leading to increased fire risks.
Residents living near wildland areas are urged to take precautions, such as forming a defensible space around their homes and preparing an evacuation plan, should additional fires ignite in the coming days.
Similar weather conditions earlier in the month helped spread a series of wildfires in Los Angeles County, which destroyed more than 40,000 acres and led to the deaths of more than two dozen victims.
Wind gusts upwards of 100 mph complicated firefighting efforts during the initial start of the blazes, which allowed the wildfires to quickly spread out of control north of Los Angeles.
Local authorities reported more than 12,000 structures were destroyed in the Palisades and Eaton fires, leading to the event being labeled as one of the costliest disasters in US history.
Investigators have not released a cause for the major blazes, but due to the absence of lightning in the area, agencies such as the ATF have focused on the role humans may have played in starting the infernos.
According to a congressional report, 89% of the country’s wildfires between 2018 and 2022 were human-caused, with debris burns, utility equipment and acts of arson being common ignition sources.
