As Los Angeles burned for days on end, horrifying the nation, scientists made an announcement on Friday that could help explain the deadly conflagration: 2024 was the hottest year in recorded history. With temperatures rising around the globe and the oceans unusually warm, scientists are warning that the world has entered a dangerous new era of chaotic floods, storms and fires made worse by human-caused climate change.  The firestorms ravaging the country’s second-largest city are just the latest spasm of extreme weather that is growing more furious as well as more unpredictable. Wildfires are highly unusual in Southern California in January, which is supposed to be the rainy season. The same is true for cyclones in Appalachia, where Hurricanes Helene and Milton shocked the country when they tore through mountain communities in October.

Related wildfire and climate change articles:

• San Francisco Chronicle: No rainfall in sight for California. Here’s how long dry weather will last
• Axios: Climate change plays key contributing role in LA fires
• The Associated Press: Climate change contributed to a week of wild weather that upended life in the US
• The Washington Post: Opinion: The Los Angeles fires won’t affect climate denial. They should.
• The Hill: California congressman: ‘Climate change has wreaked havoc on us’
• Los Angeles Times: Sobering advice from two experts on how to prevent similar ravaging blazes