It is hard to comprehend the devastation in Los Angeles this week. At least 24 people have died and tens of thousands evacuated. Entire neighborhoods have turned to ash. And fires continue to rage.

These are already among the most deadly and destructive wildfires in Los Angeles County history. But their timing is also extremely unusual: L.A. almost never sees fires in January, much less an outbreak on this scale. It is a stark reminder of how climate change is shattering the world’s norms — and how individual people and communities are paying the price.

We reviewed data from WRI’s Global Forest Watch to understand how uncommon L.A.’s current fires are, and how fire risks are changing along with the climate.

New data confirms: 2024 was the first year the world heated more than 1.5 degrees C above pre-industrial levels, breaching a critical warming threshold set under the Paris Agreement. But this target is measured in the long term, not based on individual years. That means the world could still meet it — if countries move a lot faster to slash emissions this decade.

Leiji Hana González and her family were forced to flee their home of 40 years in her Colombian village because of a land conflict sparked by a new wind farm. Her experience and others like it underscore why urgently needed climate action cannot come at the expense of Indigenous women’s rights.

Better recycling could save over 6 million tons of copper from landfills each year — more than 16 Empire State Buildings’ worth! This could go a long way toward meeting rapidly rising demand for critical minerals and reducing the need for new mines to feed clean energy growth.

Los Angeles residents are reeling from unprecedented January fires. Satellites detected more than 170 fire alerts in L.A. County between Jan. 7 and Jan. 14; most years, no fire alerts are detected within the first three months of the year.