For centuries, humans have experienced the fierce, hot and dry winds that are fanning California’s recent spate of wildfires. Known as Santa Anas in the southern part of the state and Diablos in the north, they arrive regularly in the fall.

“They’ve been here since before we’ve been here,” said Janin Guzman-Morales, a postdoctoral researcher at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego. “It’s a natural process in this region.”

But the winds’ future in a changing climate is less certain. Recent research by Dr. Guzman-Morales and others suggests that as the climate warms, the winds may become less frequent, especially at the fringes of their season in fall and spring.