Climate change increased the likelihood of the event by creating first a very strong rainfall (which resulted in more vegetation), and then a very strong drought (which dried the vegetation). The likelihood for such events increased by 8-31% from 1950. Previous climate models underestimated the risk, but even they said that a 3-degree temperature rise will double the chances for such events in comparison to current conditions. Climate change also increases the intensity of winds, and reduces the amount of water available for stopping the wildfires. Scientists from the
University of California made a fast evaluation, estimating that the difference between the average temperatures in 1980–2023 and the abnormally hot 2024 alone is responsible for 25% of the moisture deficit which was one of the causes of the wildfires. They mentioned that "Substantial anthropogenic warming occurred prior to this period, so our estimate of the effect of heat anomalies in 2024 is conservative". Their study is still not peer reviewed. Another analysis from ClimaMeter estimated that the weather conditions in the region when the wildfires begun were "up 5°C warmer, 3 mm/day (up to 15%) drier, and up to 5 km/h (up to 20%) windier" during the years 1987–2023 in comparison to the years 1950–1986. It was mainly due to
climate change, while natural variability played only a small role. Additionally, as climate change made the wildfire season in California longer, it further overlapped with the season of
Santa Ana winds (October-January). Analysis from
Climate Central and
World Weather Attribution also found that climate change strongly increased the likelihood of the wildfires not by one, but by multiple ways. The wildfires destroyed houses of some of the richest people in California, including many homes in
Malibu's Carbon Beach, colloquially also known as "Billionaire's Beach". The estimated cost of these wildfires is about 250 to 275 billion US dollars. Organizations within California, like the Michelson Found Animals and Better Neighbor Project have come together to make donations and help families who have been affected by the fires. ==List of wildfires==