Devastating fires in the Los Angeles region are driven by Santa Ana winds blowing from California and Nevada’s interior deserts to the Pacific Ocean.

While winds will be weaker on Thursday, another Santa Ana wind event is forecasted for Friday, with wind advisories likely in the Santa Clarita Valley to Point Mugu area from early morning to early afternoon, according to the NWS Los Angeles.

The Palisades, Eaton, and Hurst fires covered more than 5,600 acres of Southern California as of Wednesday morning. Tens of thousands were under mandatory evacuation orders but the fires increased in size overnight, helped by the blustery Santa Ana winds.

Although the Santa Anas are a routine part of life for people living in southern California, the winds are particularly violent and destructive this time around, experts say.

Wildfires tore across the Los Angeles area with devastating force on Wednesday after setting off a desperate escape from burning homes through flames, ferocious winds and towering clouds of smoke.

Santa Ana winds are one of the nation's most notorious wind events and an ongoing weather hazard in Southern California.

At least two fires sparked in Southern California on Jan. 7 amid a “life-threatening and destructive” windstorm event that’s sweeping through the region.

This windstorm is fueled in part by the powerful Santa Ana winds — dry and warm northeast winds that blow in from inner Southern California towards the coast. What are the Santa

For the third time since early November, parts of Southern California’s Los Angeles and Ventura counties are under a red-flag warning for extreme fire danger.