Sunday forecast: Strong Santa Ana winds return to SoCal

As wildfires continue to burn in Los Angeles County, residents are bracing for another round of Santa Ana winds and drought conditions, keeping fire danger critical as crews work to contain the blazes. 

FOX 11 meteorologist Star Harvey said lighter wind pushes through for portions of Sunday, but the new wind event will arrive as early as Monday and stretch through the middle of the week. 

RELATED: LIVE: Palisades Fire continues to burn as strong winds are expected to return

"Moving into this morning, we do have slight improvement, but nowhere near where we need to be," she said Sunday morning. "And so it does still put us in a lot of danger."

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Humidity levels will rise throughout Sunday, but by Monday, they’ll be back to desert-like, Harvey said. 

Red flag warnings

Critical fire weather conditions remain across the low deserts for portions of today and through Wednesday. 

Areas at high risk include parts of the high desert in Santa Clarita, Lancaster and Palmdale, with portions stretching through Irvine, Riverside and the San Bernardino area.

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By Monday, NE winds will be between 25 and 40 mph in some areas, with gusts up to 60-65 mph. 

High wind warnings are in place until 2 p.m. for the San Gabriel Mountains and western Santa Monica Mountains, with gusts of 60 mph or more. A wind advisory was also in effect Sunday in the Santa Clarita and western valleys of LA County, and the eastern Santa Monica Mountains to the Malibu coast, where wind gusts of 45 to 55 mph were expected.

Fierce Santa Ana winds have been largely blamed for turning the wildfires sparked last week into infernos that leveled entire neighborhoods around the city where there has been no significant rainfall in more than eight months.

Air quality

Air quality has improved for some parts of the city.

On Sunday, air quality alerts stretched into portions of the Inland Empire, down toward Orange County as well. Anaheim is also included in the air quality alerts.

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If you’re in an area with moderate to unhealthy air quality levels, officials say you should remain indoors as much as possible, avoid outdoor physical activity and run air purifiers or AC if you have them. 

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