Dry conditions across Southern California set the stage for a series of deadly wind-driven wildfires that burned thousands of homes in the Los Angeles area in early January 2025. Ming Pan, a hydrologist at the University of California-San Diego’s Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes,

Southern California is extremely dry right now, with huge portions of the region having seen less than a quarter-inch of rain in the last eight months. The landscape is parched and vegetation is withered, making the area dangerously susceptible to burning, an unusual situation for January.

By the time the winds get to the point where the Eaton Fire broke out in Altadena on Jan. 7, it’s not uncommon for them to have less than 5 percent relative humidity, meaning essentially no moisture at all.