They can even be a boating hazard. In the strongest cases, Santa Ana winds howl well offshore to Catalina, San Clemente and the Channel Islands.

Could the windstorm that stoked the Los Angeles fires happen in Northern California? The answer is yes, and it also resulted in a historic fire disaster. Here's an explanation of the phenomenon.

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

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Santa Ana winds are common in Southern California during cooler ... passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch.” San Diego’s 7 most dangerous intersections could soon get a safety overhaul.

Southern California residents are facing dire new wildfire warnings and power shutoffs while they prepare to flee at a moment's notice as fire-fueling winds blasted across the scarred landscape.

The intense and fast-moving fires that have cut a path of destruction through the suburbs of Los Angeles, killing at least two people, are being driven by the region's powerful Santa Ana winds ... mountain range, the San Gabriel Mountains, and out to ...

Smoke from wildfires in Los Angeles is drifting to the San Diego region, causing a dip in air quality and prompting North County fire officials to issue a smoke advisory.

Katabatic winds? Adiabatic compression? Time for a thermodynamics lesson! The record lack of rain has also made this Santa Ana event different.

Fires tearing through the Los Angeles area have killed at least 24 people, displaced thousands of others and destroyed more than 12,000 structures.

As of early Tuesday, four of the total six wildfires in Los Angeles have burned more than 160 square kilometres of land, an area larger than San Francisco. Of these, the largest Palisades Fire is just 14 per cent contained,

Firefighters in Southern California were given a little break on Monday as winds once again began to gain strength in Malibu, blowing through scorched areas and making conditions more difficult for those trying to dampen the blaze.