“There’s this extreme level of frustration,” University of California, Merced professor and wildfire researcher Crystal Kolden said. “But that frustration … it is really a function of ...

The Santa Ana winds are dry, powerful winds that blow down the mountains toward the Southern California coast. The region sees about 10 Santa Ana wind events a year on average, typically occurring from fall into January. When conditions are dry, as they are right now, these winds can become a severe fire hazard.

WASHINGTON — Human-caused climate change increased the likelihood and intensity of the hot, dry and windy conditions that fanned the flames of the recent devastating Southern California wildfires, a s

Human-caused climate change increased the likelihood and intensity of the hot, dry and windy conditions that fanned the flames of the recent devastating Southern California wildfires, a scientific study found.

Global warming caused mainly by burning of fossil fuels made the hot, dry and windy conditions that drove the recent deadly fires around Los Angeles about 35 times more likely to occur, an international team of scientists concluded in a rapid attribution analysis released Tuesday.

A new study finds that the region's extremely dry and hot conditions were about 35 percent more likely because of climate change.

The hot, dry, and windy conditions that drove the fires were about 35% more likely due to warming caused primarily by the burning of oil, gas, and coal, said the new analysis by 32 climate scientists

Extreme conditions helped fuel the fast-moving fires that destroyed thousands of homes. Scientists are working to figure out how climate change played a role in the disaster.

Tuesday's report, too rapid for peer-review yet, found global warming boosted the likelihood of high fire weather conditions in this month's fires by 35% and its intensity by 6%.