3 Massive Wildfires in Los Angeles: Know the reasons behind it
In the past few days, the issue of wildfires has been discussed extensively, and it is being heard that the city of Los Angeles, located in the southern region of California in the western part of the US, has been hit by massive wildfires. Multiple wildfires have destroyed many houses and other buildings, and Los Angeles’s skyline is covered with smoke. Recently (on January 8), more than 1 lakh citizens were forced to empty their houses.
3 big wildfires are coming to notice:
- Palisades fire in the west of Los Angeles in which approximately 2,925 acres have been burnt.
- Eaton fire on the eastern side of LA with an area of 2,227 acres.
- Hurst fire on the northern side of LA with an area of 505 acres.
Olivas fire, Lidia fire, Woodley fire, and Sunset fire near the famous Beverly Hills are other fires surrounding these massive ones.
Cause of these destructive wildfires
The exact cause is not confirmed yet but according to previous reports of the US Forest Service, around 85% of all forest fires are initiated by humans, either intentionally or unintentionally. However, experts have suggested two main reasons for this quick-spreading wildfires- Santa Ana winds and Climate change.
Now what is Santa Ana Winds?
These are types of winds that blow when high pressure builds over the Great Basin ( the area between the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada) and low pressure over California’s coast. This difference in pressure enables the powerful winds to move from the Basin’s inland deserts, east, and north of Southern California, over the mountains toward the Pacific Ocean.
As the wind comes down the mountains, it compresses and heat up. the wind’s humidity also drops, sometimes even less than 10%. The extremely low moisture turns vegetation dry, making it ready to burn. Santa Ana Usually Occur from October to January.
Why Climate change?
Now, point to be noted here is that Santa Ana is naturally occuring phenomena and repeats after some interval but according to the experts, the wildfire season in California has lengthened in recent years. For example, 2021 study, published in the journal Nature Scientific Reports, found that the state’s annual burn season has lengthened in the past two decades and that the yearly peak has shifted from August to July.
Primary cause of this shift is Climate change. Rise in global temperatures over the years has led to warmer springs and summers, and early spring snow melts. According to a recent United Nations report, current climate policies will result in global warming of more than 3 degree Celsius by the end of the country, more than twice the 1.5 degree threshold.