Climate Point: Drought, wind and wildfire
Welcome to Climate Point, your weekly guide to climate, energy and the environment. From Palm Springs, California, I'm Janet Wilson.
Los Angeles' ocean-front mansions and interior communities are still ablaze, with at least 10 dead and 10,000 homes and businesses destroyed by infernos. The largest blaze, the Palisades Fire, the most destructive in county history, was 8% contained as of Friday morning. The Eaton Fire in Altadena and Pasadena was at 3% containment. Several other fires have ignited across greater Los Angeles as fierce winds persisted, decimating entire communities and leaving residents reeling.
There are no known causes yet, but tinder-dry vegetation in a region in prolonged drought stoked by hurricane strength winds on Tuesday into Wednesday led the fires to rapidly explode, reports Paste BN's N'dea Yancey-Bragg, and more heavy winds are on the way. Smoke spread for miles, putting millions at risk from gritty particulate that can sink deep into lungs, writes Paste BN's Eduardo Cuevas.
Meanwhile, President-elect Donald Trump criticized California Gov. Gavin Newsom and President Joe Biden, stoking concerns by California officials that he might carry out past threats to withhold wildfire aid to the state. With 11 days left in office, Biden on Thursday pledged 180 days of full federal aid and directed the Pentagon, the Navy, the National Guard and Forest Service to send equipment and personnel to the devastated fire zones.
Protected? The heavy winds led Biden to cancel a trip to a remote desert canyon to designate two new national monuments on Tuesday: the Chuckwalla monument stretching from south of Joshua Tree National Park east almost to Arizona, and the Sattita monument in northern mountains and lakes below Mt. Shasta. He's expected to sign the paperwork at the White House next Tuesday instead, as Desert Sun colleague Tom Coulter and I report, protecting more than 800,000 acres of sacred tribal sites and critical habitat for millions of migrating birds, endangered tortoises, lizards, wildflowers and more.
Drill no more. Biden on Monday permanently banned offshore oil and gas drilling off U.S. coastlines, protecting more than 625 million federal acres from future leasing and, along with the expected new monuments, allowing him to claim he has protected more land and waters than any president. But Trump vowed he will work to "unban" drilling in the oceans immediately.
Hottest year. Earth passed several grim milestones in 2024, scientists and government officials announced on Friday: it was not only the hottest year on average since global temperature records began in 1850, but also the first year to pass a milestone set by world leaders to keep the worst impacts of climate change at bay, the Copernicus Climate Change Service said overnight Friday. It was also the warmest year on record in the U.S., the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Friday. The average annual temperature – 55.5 degrees – was 3.3 degrees above average.
Brrr. Elsewhere, bitter cold and heavy snows hit the Great Plains and Mid-Atlantic states this week. And Dallas and other portions of the southeast could get hit with a foot of snow.
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