As wildfires relentlessly sweep across Southern California and other parts of the world, Manzhu Yu, an assistant professor of geography at Penn State, offered insights into the ongoing crisis in Los Angeles (LA).

Fueled by powerful winds and dry conditions, a series of ferocious wildfires erupted the second week of January and roared across the Los Angeles area.

According to data from NASA Landsats, warm and dry weather in Los Angeles in the last two-thirds of 2024 primed the vegetation to catch fire, and for that fire to spread quickly. The largest fires started on January 7 and devastated swathes of L.