--- title: All About Santa Ana Winds | WeatherBug | WeatherBug description: All About Santa Ana Winds canonical: https://www.weatherbug.com/news/All-About-Santa-Ana-Winds og:title: All About Santa Ana Winds | WeatherBug | WeatherBug og:description: All About Santa Ana Winds og:url: https://www.weatherbug.com/news/All-About-Santa-Ana-Winds og:site_name: WeatherBug og:locale: en_US og:image: https://cms-assets-con.cdn.weatherbug.net/assets/contentitems/dc/dc3ff682-14a1-4965-ab61-568e541aab99/52e0ce98-d40a-4283-82d1-d0fe816ebf4b/c0bb551f-d6d2-4e74-b02d-8f0a75479794.gif og:image:width: 800 og:image:height: 600 og:image:alt: The meteorological pattern that produces Santa Ana winds in southern California. og:type: article article:published_time: 2021-01-20T20:17:26Z article:modified_time: 2021-01-20T20:17:26Z article:author: By WeatherBug Meteorologist, Chad Merrill article:tag: California article:tag: fire article:tag: humidity article:tag: map article:tag: maps article:tag: "Santa Ana" article:tag: wind twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: All About Santa Ana Winds | WeatherBug twitter:description: All About Santa Ana Winds twitter:image: https://cms-assets-con.cdn.weatherbug.net/assets/contentitems/dc/dc3ff682-14a1-4965-ab61-568e541aab99/52e0ce98-d40a-4283-82d1-d0fe816ebf4b/c0bb551f-d6d2-4e74-b02d-8f0a75479794.gif --- [](/) [Back to forecast](/) # All About Santa Ana Winds > Sponsored content. 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The WeatherBug app is free on the App Store and Google Play. ### Sources * The Drop newsletter sign-up: [Sign up for The Drop](/c/weatherbug-drop-2026q4/signup?i=d56f330e-b34f-4cda-8c42-4d4061d0c9c2&cr=weatherbug-drop-2026q4-v1) * WeatherBug llms.txt: https://www.weatherbug.com/llms.txt * WeatherBug news: https://www.weatherbug.com/news * WeatherBug videos: https://www.weatherbug.com/weather-videos * WeatherBug iOS app: [App Store](/c/weatherbug-drop-2026q4/ios?i=d56f330e-b34f-4cda-8c42-4d4061d0c9c2&cr=weatherbug-drop-2026q4-v1) * WeatherBug Android app: [Google Play](/c/weatherbug-drop-2026q4/android?i=d56f330e-b34f-4cda-8c42-4d4061d0c9c2&cr=weatherbug-drop-2026q4-v1) ### FAQ structured data (JSON-LD, optional) January 20, 2021 at 03:17 PM EST By WeatherBug Meteorologist, Chad Merrill  A common weather occurrence this time of the year, the Santa Ana winds will be active early this week. Santa Ana winds refer to a usually very hot and dry wind that blows from interior regions towards the coastline. While blowing dust is a pesky side-effect of these winds, the most publicized effect of the Santa Ana winds is their ability to quickly spread fires and knock out power. The origin of the Santa Ana name comes from the fact that these winds blew through the Santa Ana valley, affecting early settlers of the area. A popular misconception is that the winds were named after the Mexican president and general, Antonio Lopez de Santa Ana. Because the winds were referred to as Santa Ana winds before the president was famous, this naming origin has been discounted. These winds usually develop when a large ridge of high pressure develops over the Great Basin, an area located over much of central Nevada. The clockwise wind flow around this high pressure system brings an east-to-west wind to the Desert Southwest. As these winds surge towards the coastline, they flow down the Sierra Nevada, San Gabriel and the San Bernardino mountains. In addition to an increase in forward speed, the winds traveling down these mountain ranges are compressed and warmed. With the compression and warming, much of the moisture is removed from the fast-moving airmass. The relative humidity within these winds often drops below 20 percent, helping to dry out vegetation in the path of the winds. Temperatures often soar into the mid 80s and lower 90s during these events. However, some Santa Ana events in winter often don't produce such a temperature spike. The hot, dry nature of these winds, combined with gusts anywhere from 35 to 55 mph, create a hazardous wildfire potential. In the event that a fire is ongoing, the brisk winds tend to quickly fan the flames, making it difficult for firefighters to get control of the blaze. When the Santa Ana winds eventually reach the Pacific Ocean, they usually result in choppy surf conditions along the coastline. Highest gusts within these winds are often observed during the overnight and morning hours, when the onshore sea breeze is dormant and not acting against the Santa Ana winds. We use technologies, such as cookies, to analyze your use (i.e., pages visited), to customize content, for our internal analytics purposes and for security and other purposes. By continuing to use this website, you agree to this usage. Please review our [privacy policy](/legal/privacy) for more details as well as for information on how to contact us to object to these activities. [Ad Choices](/legal/privacy#digitaladvertisingandyourchoices) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://www.weatherbug.com/news/All-About-Santa-Ana-Winds"},"headline":"All About Santa Ana Winds","description":"All About Santa Ana Winds","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://cms-assets-con.cdn.weatherbug.net/assets/contentitems/dc/dc3ff682-14a1-4965-ab61-568e541aab99/52e0ce98-d40a-4283-82d1-d0fe816ebf4b/c0bb551f-d6d2-4e74-b02d-8f0a75479794.gif","caption":"The meteorological pattern that produces Santa Ana winds in southern California."}],"datePublished":"2021-01-20T20:17:26Z","dateModified":"2021-01-20T20:17:26Z","dateCreated":"2021-01-20T20:17:26Z","articleSection":"Weather News","keywords":"California,fire,humidity,map,maps,\"Santa Ana\",wind","articleBody":"A common weather occurrence this time of the year, the Santa Ana winds will be active early this week. Santa Ana winds refer to a usually very hot and dry wind that blows from interior regions towards the coastline. While blowing dust is a pesky side-effect of these winds, the most publicized effect of the Santa Ana winds is their ability to quickly spread fires and knock out power. The origin of the Santa Ana name comes from the fact that these winds blew through the Santa Ana valley, affecting early settlers of the area. A popular misconception is that the winds were named after the Mexican president and general, Antonio Lopez de Santa Ana. Because the winds were referred to as Santa Ana winds before the president was famous, this naming origin has been discounted. These winds usually develop when a large ridge of high pressure develops over the Great Basin, an area located over much of central Nevada. The clockwise wind flow around this high pressure system brings an east-to-west wind to the Desert Southwest. As these winds surge towards the coastline, they flow down the Sierra Nevada, San Gabriel and the San Bernardino mountains. In addition to an increase in forward speed, the winds traveling down these mountain ranges are compressed and warmed. With the compression and warming, much of the moisture is removed from the fast-moving airmass. The relative humidity within these winds often drops below 20 percent, helping to dry out vegetation in the path of the winds. Temperatures often soar into the mid 80s and lower 90s during these events. However, some Santa Ana events in winter often don't produce such a temperature spike. The hot, dry nature of these winds, combined with gusts anywhere from 35 to 55 mph, create a hazardous wildfire potential. In the event that a fire is ongoing, the brisk winds tend to quickly fan the flames, making it difficult for firefighters to get control of the blaze. When the Santa Ana winds eventually reach the Pacific Ocean, they usually result in choppy surf conditions along the coastline. Highest gusts within these winds are often observed during the overnight and morning hours, when the onshore sea breeze is dormant and not acting against the Santa Ana winds.","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Chad Merrill","jobTitle":"Meteorologist"},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"WeatherBug","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://www.weatherbug.com/images/sharing/f1ff28ba-6f06-4745-a782-011a20397e16.png"}}} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"WebSite","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://www.weatherbug.com/news/All-About-Santa-Ana-Winds","relatedLink":"https://www.weatherbug.com/news/All-About-Santa-Ana-Winds"},"name":"WeatherBug","url":"https://www.weatherbug.com/news/All-About-Santa-Ana-Winds","headline":"All About Santa Ana Winds","description":"All About Santa Ana Winds","dateModified":"2021-01-20T20:17:26Z","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"WeatherBug","url":"https://www.weatherbug.com","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/WeatherBug","https://instagram.com/WeatherBug","https://www.linkedin.com/company/weatherbug","https://www.pinterest.com/weatherbug","https://twitter.com/WeatherBug","https://www.youtube.com/user/WeatherBugVideo"],"logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://www.weatherbug.com/images/logos/weatherbug_logo_620x447.png"}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"WeatherBug","url":"https://www.weatherbug.com","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/WeatherBug","https://instagram.com/WeatherBug","https://www.linkedin.com/company/weatherbug","https://www.pinterest.com/weatherbug","https://twitter.com/WeatherBug","https://www.youtube.com/user/WeatherBugVideo"],"logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://www.weatherbug.com/images/logos/weatherbug_logo_620x447.png"}}} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Organization","name":"WeatherBug","logo":"https://www.weatherbug.com/images/logos/weatherbug_logo_620x447.png","url":"https://www.weatherbug.com","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/WeatherBug","https://instagram.com/WeatherBug","https://www.linkedin.com/company/weatherbug","https://www.pinterest.com/weatherbug","https://twitter.com/WeatherBug","https://www.youtube.com/user/WeatherBugVideo"]} ```