This story originally appeared at WattsUpWithThat.com with the title, “Why California Wildfires are NOT Climate Driven: A Historical and Meteorological Perspective“

The tragic wildfires currently raging in Los Angeles have reignited the predictable chorus blaming climate change for natural disasters. As articles from outlets like Axios, Newsweek, and the BBC demonstrate, there’s a growing tendency to tie every fire, flood, or storm to climate change. However, a closer look at history, meteorology, and land management reveals that these claims are often oversimplified by low-information journalists, and fail to address more immediate, actionable causes.

While most were celebrating the holidays, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe survived the latest endeavor in its mission to “touch” the sun – flying just 3.8 million miles above the star’s surface – in its closest-ever approach on Christmas Eve. Operations teams have confirmed NASA’s mission to “touch” the Sun survived its record-breaking closest approach to the solar surface on Dec. 24, 2024.

Breaking its previous record by flying just 3.8 million miles above the surface of the Sun, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe hurtled through the solar atmosphere at a blazing 430,000 miles per hour — faster than any human-made object has ever moved. A beacon tone received late on Dec. 26 confirmed the spacecraft had made it through the encounter safely and is operating normally.