The National Weather Service or NWS has extended the current extreme Red Flag Warning of wildfire danger through 6 p.m. Saturday in the Santa Clarita Valley and Ventura County, where the Maria Fire is burning.

Prolonged very dry conditions will continue through Sunday or Monday, with widespread minimum humidities under 10 percent and very poor overnight recoveries under 20 percent away from the coast, the NWS predicts.

Locally gusty offshore winds will persist through Saturday, with peak gusts between 25 and 35 mph over some valleys and interior mountains of Los Angeles and Ventura (where the Red Flag Warning is in effect).

The winds will remain present but weaken Saturday night into Sunday.

There is a small chance that the Red Flag Warning will be extended into Sunday, the service reports.

As recent fire activity has shown, this remains a dangerous environment for fire growth, even with weaker winds than earlier this week.

Rain is not seen in the forecast for Southern California through mid-November, Daniel Swain, a climatologist with UCLA and the National Center for Atmospheric Research, told the LA Times Thursday.

A Red Flag Warning means that conditions are favorable for dangerous fire growth and behavior for established fires or where new fire ignition occurs. Use extreme caution with potential fire ignition sources. Residents in high fire risk areas should be ready and set to evacuate if emergency officials say so.