Answer: The Santa Ana winds have everything to do with weather. It starts with a high-pressure area over the Great Basin. That’s a huge area, spanning much of Nevada, Utah and parts of California, ...

(KWTX) -One of the major factors that made the January Los Angeles fires so devastating was the very strong Santa Ana winds.

As firefighters continue to battle blazes in Los Angeles that have leveled entire neighborhoods, the deadly Santa Ana winds that fueled them have returned and are expected to intensify.

Santa Ana winds are a geographically specific type of wind that occur in Southern California known as katabatic winds. They are cold, dry, down-sloping winds that warm as they descend a mountain side.

Fast-moving Santa Ana winds – some as powerful as a hurricane – have been roaring across Southern California and feeding the wildfires firefighters are battling in the Los Angeles area.

After a break in strong winds that helped firefighters make progress against the deadly blazes in Southern California, gusty Santa Ana winds are returning to the region this week, raising the ...