California wildfire forecast: Los Angeles under critical fire risk with gusty winds, extreme dry conditions

Another gust of wind from Santa Ana is expected to enter Los Angeles from Thursday night into Friday morning, putting most of the region at severe fire risk, as emergency officials said struggle to hold five rapidly spreading fires.

Winds in the region eased overnight as low pressure, which helped improve winds, moves away into Texas.

But high pressure is building up from the north and that will help tighten the pressure gradient over southern California, creating more gusty winds.

Those winds could help spread the five wildfires that are spreading across the Los Angeles area and that emergency officials are trying to contain.

Thousands of structures have been damaged or destroyed and more than 100,000 people have been evacuated as the out-of-control inferno spreads.

Red flags and high wind warnings have been issued through Friday evening for gusts of 40 to 60 mph, with 70 mph possible in the mountains around the California city.

Relative humidity may drop to 5% in southern California.

Due to the predicted dry and windy conditions, a severe fire danger has emerged over much of the area over the next 24 hours.

An air quality alert has also been issued for Southern California, including Los Angeles, due to smoke and dust from the thick wildfire.

The smoke is expected to engulf most of the Los Angeles Basin.

ABC News’ David Brennan contributed to this report.