The weather factors that helped spread the recent Los Angeles wildfires were made worse by climate change, scientists say.
Hot, dry, windy conditions in Southern California this winter were 35 percent more likely to occur because of human-caused climate change, according to a new study from the climate research consortium World Weather Attribution, which specializes in the links between extreme weather and global warming.
And fire weather only will intensify as the world grows warmer, the researchers add.
International commitments under the Paris Agreement currently put the planet on track to warm by at least 2.6 degrees by the end of this century, according to a recent United Nations report. Under that scenario, the dry, windy conditions Southern California experienced this winter will become another 35 percent more likely to occur.