Two large wildfires that exploded on January 7 in Los Angeles were the most destructive and potentially the costliest in the city's history.

Still burning after three weeks, the Palisades and Eaton fires have so far caused 28 known fatalities and the destruction of more than 16,000 structures.

The warm, arid and well-forested West Coast of the US has a long history of catastrophic wildfires. But a new study has found that climate change caused by burning fossil fuels has made the problem a lot worse.

The hot, dry and windy conditions that drove the LA fires were about 35% more likely due to climate change, according to World Weather Attribution (WWA), a collaboration of global scientists analyzing climate change's influence on extreme weather events.

Global temperatures have increased 1.3 degrees Celsius since pre-industrial times, while 2024 was the hottest year on record.

The added heat made the unusually low rainfall from October-December more likely, and also significantly increased the intensity of the dry, Santa Ana winds that whipped up the flames, said the study's authors.

"All across the western and southern US we expect to see increasing drying........

© Deutsche Welle