Oct. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Novelist Raymond Chandler wrote of hot, dry winds that ``come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch,'' that make ``wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands' necks.''

Those Santa Ana winds, blowing in from the deserts to the east, have fueled the fires burning 356,000 acres (142,000 hectares) across Southern California and consuming hundreds of homes. The gusts are expected to end tomorrow.

The winds can blow up to 111 miles (179 kilometers) an hour and tend to occur when high-pressure systems form above the Great Basin, which covers Nevada, more than half of Utah and parts of California, Idaho, Oregon and Wyoming, scientists say.

``These winds circulate clockwise over the high-pressure zone and then push downward toward California,'' Robert Fovell, a professor of atmospheric and oceanic sciences at the University of California, Los Angeles, said in an interview. ``The winds accelerate as they pass through canyons and mountains into California.''

Santa Ana winds have low humidity and tend to occur from September through March, when the temperature is cooler in the Great Basin than it is in Southern California. The winds become warmer as they descend through the mountain passes.

``This is a particularly strong Santa Ana event,'' Fovell said. ``On top of that, plant moisture is excruciatingly low this time of year because of a dry summer. These conditions only fuel fires.''

The Santa Ana gusts were at their peak on Oct. 21 and are expected to weaken tomorrow afternoon.

``These systems only last a few days,'' Fovell said. ``We can expect this dry typhoon to end by tomorrow.''

That may be just as well. ``On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight,'' Chandler wrote of the winds. ``Anything can happen.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Kelly Riddell in Washington at Kriddell1@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: October 23, 2007 16:18 EDT