Midway through November, residents all across Southern California prepare for the dry winter months ahead of them.

Temperatures continued to cool down at the beginning of the month the week of Nov.7 when the Santa Ana winds hit parts of Southern California reaching speeds up to and even exceeding 70 and 80 mph.  Most of the areas surrounding the San Gabriel Mountains and San Bernardino area, reached winds above 80 mph as the highest got up to 87 mph in Arrowhead Springs reported by The LA Times. 

The Santa Ana winds fueled the mountain fire in Ventura County on the morning of Nov. 6, following into the night and leading into Thursday at its height. Firefighters are working against the winds to contain the fire as the incident update from Cal Fire reports that the Mountain fire expanded up to 14,187 acres as of Nov.7 at 4 a.m. The fire has jumped to 20,485 acres with 5% containment by Cal Fire Thursday evening, according to the incident update provided by Cal Fire. 

As of the most recent update of Nov. 14 at 6:44 am the fire has reached up to 20,630 at 82% containment, including 125 structures damaged and 240 destroyed. A situation summary done by Cal Fire stated there was “Minimal fire activity overnight as the fire remains within control lines and continues to smolder within large mulch piles” and “Crews continue to improve containment lines and assist the public with repopulation”. 

As the fires continue to be contained by Cal Fire, residents all around Southern California have cooler temperatures to look forward to in the coming weeks. The weekend of Nov. 23-24 reports that temperatures will be in the high 60s throughout the day in Riverside and ranging in the mid-60s to high 60s over the weekend in the Los Angeles area, according to The Weather Channel. 

To stay up-to-date with the most recent forecast in your area, check out KTLAs 7-day and hourly forecast.