A winter heat wave reigned over part of California on Thursday, threatening to worsen an already chronic drought. It raises fears of a particularly early fire season this year.
Fanned by hot winds and very low humidity, a fire broke out before dawn in the hills above the chic seaside town of Laguna Beach, south of Los Angeles. Evacuation orders have been given in some neighborhoods.
The fire, fought by more than 200 firefighters helped by water bombers, had already covered nearly 60 hectares by midday, but was not progressing towards homes.
In Southern California, the meteorological services had issued an alert about these unusual heat, with temperatures that could exceed 32 degrees Celsius at various points in the region.
These out-of-season temperatures, on average 10 degrees higher than seasonal norms, are expected to last until Sunday, the day of the American football championship final held in Los Angeles.
28.3 degrees near San Francisco
‘Right now you have this system of high pressures and drier conditions on the surface […] And also we live on a planet whose climate we have warmed. So, just from a purely statistical point of view, we are going to see a record increase, ‘says Justin Mankin, climate scientist at the American University of Dartmouth.
This unseasonable heat also extends further north, in the San Francisco area for example, where several heat records were broken for February 9, with 28.3 degrees recorded in Salinas against 27.2 degrees four years ago. earlier.
The hope of halting a cycle of chronic drought that had been sparked by spectacular snowfalls on the Californian peaks at the end of December did not last. A laboratory at the University of Berkeley, specializing in the study of snow in the central Sierra Nevada, raised a sad record on Wednesday: ‘The longest winter period without any precipitation’, with 32 consecutive dry days.
‘What prevents fires is rain, precipitation. And this kind of heat phenomenon tends to suggest that there is a risk of having a very early start to the wildfire season in California,” said Justin Mankin. “It’s almost to the point where it feels like this season never ends.”
/ ATS