California Wildfires Show No Signs of Slowing Down

Tuesday, Santa Wind Ana swept across the ocean in Southern California, spreading wildfire flames. By nightfall, residents received emergency alerts warning of 100 mph gusts – a dangerous surge that turned a critical situation into a major disaster. As the wind blew, large amounts of debris began to rise, sparking new fires in the dry, patchy terrain that hadn’t seen much rain in eight months.

Los Angeles County, affected by drought-like conditions, was a small box waiting to catch fire. Firefighters battled a storm so fierce that water-dropping and fire-fighting planes were shut down. Officials warned in a press release Wednesday morning that “all Los Angeles County residents are at risk.” Immigration laws have already removed thousands of people, and thousands more are waiting to be changed. As of Wednesday evening, three large fires had burned more than 13,000 acres due to lack of containment: The Palisades Fire in Pacific Palisades and Malibu, the Hurst Fire in Sylmar, and the Eaton Fire near Pasadena showed no signs of slowing down, at the time of writing. 0 percent is, and has already been the most destructive in California history.

The fire became more dangerous because of the dry conditions and strong winds: “Any small thing, whether it’s lightning or a person or a fire, it will grow quickly,” says Jennifer Marlon, a research scientist and lecturer at Yale. School of Environment and Yale Program on Climate Change Communication. “Once a fire starts in these conditions, it’s very difficult to control,” adds Kaitlyn Trudeau, senior climate science researcher at the non-profit media organization Climate Central.

The occurrence of Santa Ana winds is not uncommon. “We see it every year around this time,” said Jason Moreland, a meteorologist at emergency communications platform AlertMedia. These low winds, which originate in the upper reaches, are caused by strong drying from the northwest, and low moisture from the south. It’s like having a hose and bending it in half to cut off the water. “When you drill a hole in the side, you’re forced to come out,” explains Trudeau. “That’s what’s happening with air.”

However, these winds are stronger than usual due to the dip of the jet stream near the Baja Peninsula in northwestern Mexico, Moreland explains. Winds that are normally lowered to higher elevations reach lower elevations. He said: “For thousands of years, we have been experiencing strong events like this.

Although this wind event seems dangerous, Noah Diffenbaugh, professor and senior fellow at Stanford’s Woods Institute for Environmenthe explained that it could be caused by natural climate change – and more research is needed to determine if it is caused by climate change.

However, although the wind is not seasonal, the climate changes it increases the risk late or early season wildfires in California. “This is not just a hurricane event, it’s also the driest weather here for early January,” Diffenbaugh says. Southern California’s rainy season, which runs from October to April, has slowed significantly, following a particularly dry fall. Like rain change dramatically due to climate changekillings between monsoon and summer are increasing. “We’re seeing more, hot, dry, windy days, especially in southern California,” Trudeau says.