Southern California’s most extreme fire weather is caused by offshore Santa Ana winds, whichcommonly occur later in the year than the lightning which provides natural ignition. Examination ofthe specific dates of both lightning and Santa Ana winds over 25 years shows that Santa Ana winds arevery rare during or even within ten days of lightning strikes. The median lag between the twophenomena is 52 days, and on those occasions when lightning does occur shortly before Santa Anawinds, the actual density of strikes is very low. The rarity of lightning as ignition for Santa Ana-drivenfires suggests that the current fire regime dominated by such fires is largely a product of theabundance of human-caused ignition.