Unusually strong and fast-spreading wildfires are scorching Southern California, marking the region's most destructive winter fires in over four decades. A confluence of factors, including record-high Santa Ana winds, extreme drought, and rapid plant growth followed by scorching temperatures, has fueled the inferno. The fires, described as 'tiny, mighty, and fast,' are burning with unprecedented speed, causing widespread damage and raising concerns about the increasing threat of wildfires in a warming climate.
Southern California is experiencing it’s most devastating winter fires in more than four decades. Fires don’t usually blaze at this time of year, but specific ingredients have come together to defy the calendar in a fast and deadly manner.
Summer fires are bigger usually, but they don’t burn nearly as fast. Winter fires “are much more destructive because they happen much more quickly” said U.S. Geological Survey fire scientist Jon Keeley. But a condition that led to those winds is a big plunge in the temperature of the jet stream – the river of air that moves weather systems across the globe – which helped bring cold air to the eastern two-thirds of the nation, said University of California Merced climate and fire scientist John Abatzoglou. Other scientists have preliminarily linked those jet stream plunges to climate change.
While the ignition sources for these fires have yet to be determined, Flannigan bets they’ll end up being power lines blown down by high winds. That’s what started California’s devastating fires in 2016 and 2017, leading to utility Pacific Gas & Electric declaring bankruptcy after facing $30-billion in lawsuits.An analysis of 423 California wildfires that have grown to at least 39 square kilometres since 1984 shows only four of those burned during the winter.
Wildfires Climate Change Drought Santa Ana Winds California
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