Santa Ana winds stoke California wildfires: When will they stop?

Editor's note: An updated Los Angeles wind forecast has been issued for Thursday, January 9.

The ferocious Santa Ana winds that helped fuel the deadly, out-of-control wildfires around Los Angeles are forecast to ease later Wednesday, but they may return Friday, meteorologists said.

The National Weather Service in Los Angeles said a "high speed river of air" remained over Los Angeles County on Wednesday and was fueling a "widespread, major wind event." The good news was this "air river" was moving south and should cause the winds over Los Angeles to decrease slowly throughout the day Wednesday, the weather update said.

However, "since the wind speeds are so high now, the slow decrease will not bring the winds down to below warning levels until early evening," the update added. "There will, however, be a fairly notable drop off in wind speeds late this morning."

More: How 'hellish' Santa Ana winds are fueling destructive fires around Los Angeles

On Thursday, the winds will be weaker, the weather service said. "At this time it looks like the only advisory level winds will be in the Los Angeles and eastern Ventura mountains."

At least two people have been killed as several fast-growing wildfires raged out of control on Wednesday near Los Angeles, destroying hundreds of buildings, scorching hillsides and prompting officials to order thousands of people to flee their homes.

Fierce winds were hindering firefighting efforts and fueling the fires, which have expanded since they began on Tuesday.

Context: 3 reasons California's wildfires got so dangerous so fast

Wind and fire warnings were also in effect Wednesday for inland Orange County into parts of the Northwest Inland Empire and foothills, the National Weather Service in San Diego said. Wind warnings were set to expire later Wednesday.

Hurricane-force wind gusts reported

Many hurricane-force wind gusts were recorded as of Wednesday morning. "For example, Hollywood Burbank Airport recorded a peak gust around 9 p.m. PST of 71 mph," AccuWeather meteorologist Danielle Ehresman said. "Additionally, gusts approaching 100 mph were recorded above 2,000 feet in the Santa Monica and San Gabriel mountains Tuesday night."

Santa Ana winds forecast to return Friday

Unfortunately it looks like another Santa Ana event is on tap for Friday. "This will be a more typical Santa Ana with predominantly northeast winds focused along the typical Santa Ana wind corridor from the Santa Clarita Valley to Point Mugu," the weather service said.

"Wind advisories are likely in this area from early morning to early afternoon. The downsloping winds will also reduce the humidities and increase the fire danger."

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According to Weather.com meteorologist Chris Dolce, after a weekend lull, Santa Ana winds will likely return again early next week.

Contributing: Reuters

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Santa Ana wind forecast brings good and bad news for LA wildfires