It started with millions of people in the United States shivering amid blizzard conditions and freezing air that lasted for days, thanks to a jet stream that is diverted more often these days. Then, the catastrophe in Californiawith wind-driven flames across a landscape parched by months of drought to become Los Angeles’ worst wildfires.
To top it all off, major weather monitoring agencies confirmed that 2024 was the hottest year in global history. Even more: Four of the six agencies said it was the first full year that the Earth surpassed a warming threshold considered critical to limiting the worst effects of climate change.
Welcome to a week of climatic ups and downs. And there will be more.
“For the average person, this means that the changes you are experiencing — more extreme weather, rising costs due to climate impacts, threats to food and water security — are not anomalies,” explained Victor Gensini, professor of meteorology at the Northern Illinois University. “They are the new normal unless we take action.”
“The last week of strange weather has been alarming,” said Natalie Mahowald, chair of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Cornell University. “I hope it’s not a sign of what’s to come, because we’ve barely seen any climate change compared to what we’re going to get unless we radically reduce CO2 emissions.”
This is how the week unfolded.
On Monday
First the cold came. The Arctic is warming four times faster than the rest of the world, meaning the difference between northern and southern temperatures is decreasing, along with sea ice releasing more heat into the atmosphere. That means more energy bouncing around and warping or moving the polar vortex, scientists say. And climate change is also altering the jet stream, the air currents that circulate around the globe.
The result? More frequent outbreaks of intense cold in winter even as global temperatures generally warm.
The blizzard dumped more snow in some parts of Kansas than they typically receive in a year, a Kansas State University meteorologist said. Ice-covered trees downed power lines in eastern Kentucky, and a U.S. Olympian skied on the National Mall in Washington.
Farmers scrambled to move cows to prevent them from freezing to death and to feed and water them as rural roads became impassable. Travel was halted as several states warned motorists not to risk snow and ice.
About 200 people, many homeless, took shelter at a skating rink in Cincinnati. The alternative was freezing or worse due to temperatures dropping to freezing or subfreezing at night.
on tuesday
In the west, the forest fire gained strength.
The Palisades Fire broke out in the Santa Monica Mountains and moved quickly driven by Santa Ana winds that blew up to 100 miles per hour, much faster than normal. The winds were so strong that they prevented the flight of planes normally used to drop water on the flames.
The fire hit near the Getty Museum and by the end of the day, several celebrities — including Billy Crystal, Mandy Moore and Jhené Aiko — had lost their homes. Less than 72 hours earlier, many stars had gathered to walk the Golden Globes red carpet.
The Eaton Fire tore through Altadena, killing two people and closing about 10 school districts.
He climate change laid the foundation for the California megafires. Atmospheric rivers discharged enormous amounts of water into the region which caused much plant growth. Then a rapid onset of drought dried them out, providing abundant fuel for the flames.
on Wednesday
The water system used to fight the Palisades fire in Los Angeles failed in the morning, as some hydrants ran dry while overloaded without help from firefighting planes.
In Photos | Voracious flames continue to devastate communities in California. Five fatalities
The strong winds recorded in areas of California have made the work of firefighters trying to put out the flames and thus stop the devastation caused by forest fires difficult. Five people have died.
The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power was pumping aqueducts and groundwater into the system, but demand was so high that it wasn’t enough to refill three tanks in the Pacific Palisades hills. At least 1,000 buildings were engulfed in flames.
The Sunset Fire also began, threatening the Hollywood Hills and forcing mandatory evacuations in Hollywood.
President-elect Donald Trump criticized water management policies of state and local officials. But experts said critics were connecting unrelated issues and spreading false information during a crisis.
Thursday
On Thursday afternoon, calmer winds helped firefighters make some progress, although by then at least five fires were still active and some were burning out of control in the Los Angeles area.
Scenes of the destruction began to emerge. Recovery teams pulled a body from the rubble of a beachfront residence in Malibu.
AccuWeather, a private company that provides data on climate and its impact, estimated that the overall damage from the wildfires could reach $57 billion, although much of the destruction has yet to be assessed.
At the same time, another winter storm bore down on the South, with warnings and advisories for at least 20 states. Many had gone through the same thing just days before.
On Friday, major weather monitoring agencies said 2024 was the hottest since records began, easily surpassing 2023.
Even more significant: 2024 was the first year with a global average that broke the long-term warming limit of 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) since the late 19th century that was set as a goal by the United States Climate Agreement. Paris 2015.
Extreme weather like this week’s “is affecting many more people at the same time,” said Barbara Hofer, professor emeritus of psychology at Middlebury College. “Increasingly, the scale is changing. Losses are increasing.”
Hofer added that the growing impact may cause some people to deny climate change, ignore it or become desensitized to it as “a way of avoiding what is psychologically uncomfortable.”
A week like this can also energize positive change, he said. But Hofer added that he thinks it will be more difficult, at least in the United States, as Trump takes office. Trump has vowed to halt federal climate action and repeal existing legislation targeting the problem.
“I am concerned about denial, misinformation and the forces that fuel that denial,” he said. “That’s what we have to address.”
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