The EU’s long-delayed Entry/Exit System (EES) is scheduled to finally come into force in 2025.
29.01.2025 - 05:33 / euronews.com / El Niño / Rebecca Ann Hughes
Human-caused climate change worsened the devastating Los Angeles wildfires, a new study has found.
Fossil fuel burning reduced rainfall, dried out vegetation, and increased the overlap between flammable drought conditions and strong Santa Ana winds, aggravating the blazes.
The study was carried out by 32 researchers, including leading wildfire scientists from the US and Europe.
They form part of World Weather Attribution, an academic group that has studied the influence of climate change on more than 90 extreme events around the world.
The scientists also warn that LA will get drier and more flammable with continued fossil fuel burning.
Extreme fires broke out around Los Angeles, California, on 7 January. Fanned by powerful Santa Ana mountain winds and burning through tinder-dry vegetation, the fires rapidly spread into urban areas.
They eventually killed at least 28 people, more than 10,000 homes have been destroyed, and millions are still being affected by toxic smoke. The fires are the most destructive in LA’s history and potentially the costliest in US history.
The study found that the hot, dry and windy conditions that fuelled the LA fires were about 35 per cent (1.35 times) more likely due to climate change.
These fire-prone conditions will intensify if countries keep burning fossil fuels, the researchers warn.
At 2.6°C of warming, which is expected by 2100 under current scenarios, similar fire-weather in January will become a further 35 per cent more likely, making similar extremes about 80 per cent (1.8 times) more likely compared to the 1.3°C cooler preindustrial climate.
“Without a faster transition away from planet-heating fossil fuels, California will continue to get hotter, drier, and more flammable,” said Dr Clair Barnes, World Weather Attribution researcher at the Centre for Environmental Policy at Imperial College London.
The researchers also found the LA wildfire season is becoming longer and more dangerous as fossil fuel emissions heat the climate.
Highly flammable drought conditions now last about 23 more days each year on average than in the preindustrial climate, an analysis of historical weather data found.
Due to highly variable rainfall, drought conditions can last much longer in some years, the scientists say.
October to December rainfall has historically brought an end to the wildfire season. But in recent decades, these rains have decreased.
Today, low rainfall across the three months is about 2.4 times more likely in neutral El Niño conditions, and a further 1.8 times more likely in La Niña conditions compared to the preindustrial climate.
The two weather phenomena influence the temperatures of the Pacific Ocean which can affect weather patterns around the globe.
Hotter air
The EU’s long-delayed Entry/Exit System (EES) is scheduled to finally come into force in 2025.
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This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Stephen and Joanna Vargha, a married couple who moved from North Carolina to Cuenca, Ecuador, in 2020 after retiring early. Cuenca is located in the Andes mountains and has a population of about 600,000 people. Their interview has been edited for length and clarity.
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