Fast-moving wildfires are burning long after the regular fire season is over due to an unlikely sequence of extreme weather events that may have been exacerbated by climate change
By James Dinneen
8 January 2025
The Palisades Fire advancing on homes in Los Angeles
Ethan Swope/Associated Press/Alamy
Fast-moving wildfires in the Los Angeles area are burning out of control long after fire season normally ends in California. Powerful Santa Ana winds are not unusual for this time of year but they have arrived after months of drought. The combination has led to a disastrous series of fires, in a possible indication of how climate change is shifting the way fires behave in the state.
“While Santa Ana fires are nothing new in southern California, this type of explosive fire event has never happened in January before, and it’s only happened once in December,” says Crystal Kolden at the University of California, Merced.
As of 8 January, at least four wildfires were burning in the Los Angeles area, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The two largest fires are the Palisades fire and the Eaton fire, which have each burned more than 4000 hectares (10,000 acres) in a day. The fires have killed at least two people and destroyed at least a thousand homes, as well as forcing tens of thousands of people to evacuate. The fires have also threatened NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the Getty Museum.
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The strong Santa Ana winds have reached speeds of up to 129 kilometres (80 miles) per hour, fanning the flames and driving their rapid spread. The windstorm is expected to be the most intense one since 2011, with “extremely critical fire weather conditions” forecast to continue through the afternoon of 8 January, according to the US National Weather Service. Fire weather could continue as late as 10 January, challenging firefighting efforts.
This is the latest in a “very highly improbable sequence of extreme climate and weather events” that have contributed to the intense fires, says Park Williams at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). The Santa Anas are a regular feature of southern California weather, but wet fall and winter weather usually limits their influence on fires. This year, that rainy weather still hasn’t arrived, leaving vegetation dried out and ready to burn. Plus, there is more vegetation as fuel thanks to a wet winter in 2023 that boosted growth. Intense heat and drought throughout 2024 dried it out.