Bad as they are, Hall said, Santa Anas seem to have become somewhat less frequent and have lost some of their punch in recent decades, a trend he thinks may be linked to global warming.
But there will still be Santa Anas.
Matt Shameson, a fire meteorologist for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, called this week's winds "average to moderate" and predicted more in coming weeks.
"We're probably going to see at least another two or three Santa Ana events before we get any rain," he said. "And I don't see any significant rain for the rest of October."
Shameson said the rainy season typically begins Nov. 15 and the strongest Santa Ana winds come during that season.
Mike Dietrich, chief of fire and aviation for the San Bernardino National Forest, said Southern California's chaparral "burns like gasoline" during Santa Ana events.
"What makes the fires so ferocious and tough to fight is the sheer ember production and the spotting distances," he said, noting that wind-borne embers ignite dozens of small fires. "You just get overwhelmed with the numbers of spots and the inability to pick them up. You're not able to get on it. You're not going to put firefighters at the head of the wall of flame."
Dietrich said that such winds require fire bosses to be opportunistic, and attack when the wind drops. Firefighters made such progress Tuesday, but remained wary of nightfall, when Santa Ana fires "are the crankiest," Dietrich said.
Even if there are drenching winter rains, chaparral won't absorb moisture from the soil until January or February, Dietrich said.
"It can rain," he said, "but if you get five days of Santa Ana winds, you're back in the game again."
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julie.cart@latimes.com
bettina.boxall@latimes.com
richard.winton@latimes.com
Times staff writers Hector Becerra, Raja Abdulrahim, Yvonne Villarreal and Corina Knoll contributed to this report.
