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A firefighter stands on top of a fire truck to battle the Palisades Fire while it burns homes on the Pacific Coast Highway amid a powerful windstorm on January 8, 2025, in Los Angeles, California.. Since then, bone-dry conditions have set the stage for the catastrophic wildfires now descending upon the metropolis from multiple directions.
To understand why wet and dry periods are becoming more extreme, it can help to think of the atmosphere as a kitchen sponge that’s becoming more and more absorbent as it warms. When you wring out this more powerful sponge, it sends down heavier rains than before. On the other hand, when the sponge dries out, it has even more capacity to suck up moisture from the soil and plants below, parching the landscape and turning it into tinder.
As journalists, we have a responsibility to look at hard realities and communicate them to you. We hope that you, like us, can use this information to prepare for what’s to come.
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