Wildfires are still active in Los Angeles, which has so far left 24 dead, 23 missing and more than 150,000 people evacuated, destroyed 160 square kilometers and burned thousands of homes, fueled by weather conditions “intensified by human-induced climate change,” according to The first scientific analysis.
The ClimaMeter project, funded by the European Union and the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), has published a study to analyze the impact of the climate crisis on this natural disaster.
We attribute these conditions to human-caused climate change. Natural climate fluctuations may have played a minor role

Homes were burned to rubble by the Eaton Fire in Altadena, California
The bottom line is that compared to the past, weather conditions in January 2025 in the fire-affected area are up to 5°C warmer, 15% drier, and 20% windier.
“We attribute these conditions to human-caused climate change. Natural climate fluctuations may have played a minor role,” say researchers Greta Cazzaniga and Davide Farrand, authors of the study.
In their analysis, the scientists describe a series of “anomalies” regarding meteorological conditions similar to this time of year that have been observed for decades, such as high surface temperatures, lack of precipitation and wind speed, with very strong gusts blowing from mountain ranges. From California to the Pacific Ocean, due to the low pressure (surface low) of the entire region.
The study warns that extreme weather conditions, such as heatwaves, droughts and heavy rains, “contribute to conditions that are conducive to wildfires.” Although fires have been shown to be part of natural ecosystems, there is an “increasing impact” of climate change on the frequency and extent of these events.
Longer fire season

Firefighters work to remove a firebreak on a retardant-covered hillside in the Los Angeles Hills
The authors cite reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on how climate change caused by the burning of fossil fuels has significantly increased the areas burned by wildfires in certain regions, lengthening fire climate seasons — the typical season in California It is between June and June. November – The fire spreads to areas that were not exposed to such danger before.
At a methodological level, the study analyzes how events similar to the weather conditions that led to these wildfires have changed in the present (1987-2023) compared to what they would have been if they had occurred in the past (1950-1986) in the same region. “This event is associated with extremely rare weather conditions,” he concluded.
Another revelation is that “natural sources of climate variability” “partially” influence this phenomenon. “This means that the changes we observe in this phenomenon compared to the past may be mainly due to human-caused climate change,” the scientists assert, who give “moderate to high confidence in the strength” of the analysis through available climate data.
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