Climate Changed
California’s Wildfires Are the Deadly Flip Side of This Year’s Rainfall
- Long-awaited moisture created ideal fuel for horrific infernos
- ‘The conditions are just ripe -- the recipe is just right’
Wildfires Are Burning Northern California's Wine Country
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There’s a dark side to the torrent of precipitation that ended California’s long drought earlier this year: Rain and snow pumped life back into bushes, shrubs and grasses and created ideal fuel for infernos.
They’ve been raging since Sunday in the wine country north of San Francisco, claiming at least 21 lives, and also in Orange County near Los Angeles. Vegetation that blossomed in May and June dried out when summer temperatures soared, to record levels in some areas. Once-welcome green foliage crumbled into a parched stockpile for a disastrous fall fire season.