Southern California will continue to face "dangerous fire weather conditions" including strong Santa Ana winds and extremely low humidity through later this week, forecasters said Tuesday.

As winds across the Southern California area are calmer than their peak and firefighters are making progress, the threat to the fire-weary region remains with Santa Ana winds expected to continue in the coming days.

Santa Ana winds occur when air flows west from a region of high pressure over the dry Great Basin to lower pressure off the California coast, According to Accuweather. As that cool interior air flows over and through mountain passes, it accelerates, sinks and compresses.