Climate security

Christmas wildfires: How climate change puts California at risk all year round

Most Californians are unaccustomed to white Christmases. But shifting weather patterns have dusted the state with flurries rarely seen this time of year.

“It looked like my front yard had snow on it,” said 67-year-old Ron Tito, standing beneath the scorched hills encircling his oceanside town of Carpinteria.

It wasn’t snow but a coating of ash: a byproduct of the infernos that had engulfed hundreds of thousands of acres near Los Angeles – and a potential harbinger of devastation to come.

“We’re about ready to have firefighting at Christmas,” Governor Jerry Brown said after surveying the damage. “This is very odd and unusual.”

California’s history, seen from one angle, is a chronicle of natural disasters. The threat of floods, droughts and earthquakes hovers ever-present, and wildfires are a fact of life.