Current:Home > ContactGlobal Warming Set the Stage for Los Angeles Fires -Dynamic Wealth Solutions
Global Warming Set the Stage for Los Angeles Fires
View
Date:2025-04-16 11:05:37
Global warming caused mainly by burning of fossil fuels made the hot, dry and windy conditions that drove the recent deadly fires around Los Angeles about 35 times more likely to occur, an international team of scientists concluded in a rapid attribution analysis released Tuesday.
Today’s climate, heated 2.3 degrees Fahrenheit (1.3 Celsius) above the 1850-1900 pre-industrial average, based on a 10-year running average, also increased the overlap between flammable drought conditions and the strong Santa Ana winds that propelled the flames from vegetated open space into neighborhoods, killing at least 28 people and destroying or damaging more than 16,000 structures.
“Climate change is continuing to destroy lives and livelihoods in the U.S.” said Friederike Otto, senior climate science lecturer at Imperial College London and co-lead of World Weather Attribution, the research group that analyzed the link between global warming and the fires. Last October, a WWA analysis found global warming fingerprints on all 10 of the world’s deadliest weather disasters since 2004.
Several methods and lines of evidence used in the analysis confirm that climate change made the catastrophic LA wildfires more likely, said report co-author Theo Keeping, a wildfire researcher at the Leverhulme Centre for Wildfires at Imperial College London.
“With every fraction of a degree of warming, the chance of extremely dry, easier-to-burn conditions around the city of LA gets higher and higher,” he said. “Very wet years with lush vegetation growth are increasingly likely to be followed by drought, so dry fuel for wildfires can become more abundant as the climate warms.”
Park Williams, a professor of geography at the University of California and co-author of the new WWA analysis, said the real reason the fires became a disaster is because “homes have been built in areas where fast-moving, high-intensity fires are inevitable.” Climate, he noted, is making those areas more flammable.
All the pieces were in place, he said, including low rainfall, a buildup of tinder-dry vegetation and strong winds. All else being equal, he added, “warmer temperatures from climate change should cause many fuels to be drier than they would have been otherwise, and this is especially true for larger fuels such as those found in houses and yards.”
He cautioned against business as usual.
“Communities can’t build back the same because it will only be a matter of years before these burned areas are vegetated again and a high potential for fast-moving fire returns to these landscapes.”
We’re hiring!
Please take a look at the new openings in our newsroom.
See jobsveryGood! (24)
Related
- US wholesale inflation accelerated in November in sign that some price pressures remain elevated
- Beyoncé Announces Renaissance World Tour Film: See the Buzz-Worthy Trailer
- More than 100 search for missing 9-year-old in upstate New York; investigation underway
- Proof Dakota Johnson and Chris Martin's Romance Is Pure Magic
- FACT FOCUS: Inspector general’s Jan. 6 report misrepresented as proof of FBI setup
- As America ages, The Golden Bachelor targets key demographic for advertisers: Seniors
- Looks like we picked the wrong week to quit quoting 'Airplane!'
- Almost entire ethnic Armenian population has fled enclave
- Travis Hunter, the 2
- Who is Jenny in 'Forrest Gump'? What to know about the cast of the cinema classic.
Ranking
- Alex Murdaugh’s murder appeal cites biased clerk and prejudicial evidence
- 'It's a toxic dump': Michigan has become dumping ground for US's most dangerous chemicals
- Kevin Porter barred from Houston Rockets after domestic violence arrest in New York
- Mobile apps fueling AI-generated nudes of young girls: Spanish police
- The FBI should have done more to collect intelligence before the Capitol riot, watchdog finds
- 8-year prison sentence for New Hampshire man convicted of running unlicensed bitcoin business
- Deputy wounded, man killed in gunfire exchange during Knoxville domestic disturbance call
- Judge plans May trial for US Sen. Bob Menendez in bribery case
Recommendation
Selena Gomez's "Weird Uncles" Steve Martin and Martin Short React to Her Engagement
Why America has grown to love judging the plumpest bears during Fat Bear Week
Search resumes for missing 9-year-old girl who vanished during camping trip in upstate New York park
Health care has a massive carbon footprint. These doctors are trying to change that
Dick Vitale announces he is cancer free: 'Santa Claus came early'
As the 'water tower of Asia' dries out, villagers learn to recharge their springs
Construction worker who died when section of automated train system fell in Indianapolis identified
Anya Taylor-Joy Marries Malcolm McRae in Star-Studded Italy Wedding