January: Devastating Southern California Wildfires and Historic Gulf Coast Blizzard
- Brandon Wong
- Mar 19
- 6 min read
January is usually cold and snowy across much of the United States. However, fire and ice clashed this year. Blazing and destructive fires raged in Southern California while historic frigid and snowy conditions swept across the Gulf Coast. What a contrast. Let's dive into how these devastating and unique events unfolded and their impacts.
Southern California Wildfires
The January 2025 Southern California Wildfires raged for an interminable 24 days, from January 7 to 31. 14 destructive wildfires impacted the Los Angeles metropolitan area and San Diego County. On January 2, the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) warned that there could be "above normal significant fire potential" in Southern California. Southern California had become increasingly arid due to El Niño shifting to La Niña. January is usually California's wettest month. The National Weather Service (NWS) warned that destructive winds could be life-threatening and result in widespread power outages and downed trees. Santa Ana winds develop when high-pressure air from the Great Basin (a desert in the Western US) flows toward lower-pressure areas near the Pacific Coast, creating strong, warm, and extremely dry winds. On January 8, the Storm Prediction Center issued an extremely critical risk for Fire Weather, the first time in January for California since 2007.
The Palisades and Eaton Fires were the most notable ones. On January 7, Cal Fire reported the Palisades Fire started at 10:30 am and the Eaton Fire at 6:18 pm. During the hectic evacuation, some roads became gridlocked as the Palisades Fire approached. The fire spread so fast that many people abandoned their cars and fled for their lives on foot. Later on, bulldozers came in to move around 200 vehicles off the road to make way for firefighters to battle the monstrous wildfire. Afterward, the Palisades Fire quickly swept through eastern Malibu, destroying luxury, multi-million dollar beachfront homes. By January 11, the Palisades Fire had exploded to over 20,000 acres and the Eaton Fire to over 14,000 acres. By January 31, after burning for over three weeks, both fires were fully contained.
While the Palisades and Eaton Fires were the highlights, a couple of other larger fires occurred. The Hughes Fire, the third largest fire in Los Angeles County during this natural disaster, lasted for a week and burned over 10,000 acres. In San Diego, the Border 2 Fire exploded in size and burned more than 6,000 acres. Both fires caused over 30,000 people to be put under evacuation orders, but luckily no structures were damaged nor destroyed.
The Palisades and Eaton Fires caused widespread devastation across parts of Southern California. The Palisades Fire destroyed the majority of Pacific Palisades and the Eaton Fire burned the majority of Altadena. When the destructive fires started on January 7, multiple areas reported high wind gusts. The NWS reported wind gusts of 84 mph on Magic Mountain Truck Trail in Santa Clarita and 62 mph in Escondido Canyon. Powerful 100 mph wind gusts were recorded on Mount Lukens and near 100 mph in the Santa Monica Mountains. The Palisades Fire scorched over 23,000 acres and the Eaton Fire burned more than 14,000 acres. In total, over 200,000 people were ordered to evacuate. Unfortunately, about 30 people died and over 30 remain missing. A shocking >18,000 structures were damaged or destroyed.
Causes
So what caused these fires? Both fires remain under investigation and there has been no official cause of these natural disasters yet. However, the Eaton Fire could have started from faulty power lines of Southern California Edison (SCE). There have also been allegations that SCE failed to de-energize transmission lines, which would prevent igniting a wildfire, despite the NWS issuing a red flag warning (ideal conditions for rapid wildfire spread).
On the other hand, the cause of the Palisades Fire is quite gray. Investigators are examining several factors, including the role of utility lines, arson, and fireworks. One of the leading theories is the Lachman Fire, an earlier and smaller brush fire. On January 1, fireworks sparked this fire in the hillsides above Pacific Palisades. Six days later, the larger Palisades Fire ignited in the same area where the Lachman Fire burned. Santa Ana winds can rekindle fires. Rekindling occurs due to the lack of water in the surrounding area and unextinguished embers that can remain hot enough to reignite.
Gulf Coast Blizzard
While monstrous wildfires ravaged Southern California, the Gulf Coast experienced the polar opposite. The 2025 Gulf Coast Blizzard was unusually strong and brought widespread impacts across the Gulf Coast of the United States from January 20-22. The blizzard came from an elongated polar vortex. The polar vortex is a large area of swirling, cold air surrounding the Earth's poles. During the winter, the polar vortex strengthens and becomes unstable, bringing frigid air to areas that are not typically cold. An area of low pressure connected to an Arctic cold front in the western Gulf of Mexico, causing snow, sleet, and freezing rain from Texas to Florida. After January 22, the winter storm moved offshore and away from the US.
This storm was the first recorded Gulf Coast blizzard and the most significant winter storm since 1895. In Texas, up to 6 inches of snow fell near La Porte and 0.18 inches of freezing rain near League City. In Louisiana, the NWS issued a blizzard warning for the first time on record in southwestern Louisiana, including Lafayette, Cameron, Vermilion, Jefferson Davis, and Acadia parishes. An astonishing 13.4 inches of snow fell near Grand Coteau. Chalmette recorded a staggering 11.5 inches and New Orleans reached 10 inches. Baton Rouge measured 7.6 inches, surpassing the one-day snowfall record of 6.5 inches. In Mississippi, Ocean Springs recorded 9 inches. In Alabama, snowfall reached a shocking 11 inches in Babbie and 7.5 inches in Mobile Regional Airport. In Florida, Milton recorded a mind-blowing 10 inches of snow, shattering the state's record snowfall of 4 inches, also coming from Milton, in March 1954. Pensacola recorded a stunning 8.9 inches, nearly tripling its record of 3 inches from February 1895. In Georgia, Cordele measured 9 inches and Camilla followed behind with 8 inches. In North Carolina, 9 inches was reported at the Wright Brothers National Memorial and 6.5 inches in Kelly. In South Carolina, 6 inches was recorded in Cross and 4 inches in Charleston.
Additionally, extremely cold temperatures followed the record-breaking snow across the Gulf Coast. New record low temperatures were set in Jennings, Lafayette, New Roads, and New Iberia at 7°F, 4°F, 4°F, and 2°F, respectively. Baton Rouge and Lake Charles set all-time monthly record lows of 7°F and 6°F for January. In Texas, Beaumont set an all-time monthly record low of 11°F for January. Ultimately, the blizzard caused more than 77,000 power outages, canceled or postponed thousands of flights, and resulted in a shocking $500 million in damages and 13 fatalities.
Relations to Climate Change
Both the Southern California fires and the historic Gulf Coast blizzard were extreme events. Out of those two natural disasters, the Southern California fires were the most prominent example of being impacted by climate change. In early 2024, vegetation was enhanced by a wetter-than-average winter. However, the summer of 2024 was the hottest on record in Southern California and created severe drought conditions. As a result, the plentiful vegetation dried out. Climate change has also lengthened the dry season, reducing water supplies and the number of days for prescribed burns.
In order to show the impact of climate change in Southern California, scientists at the Institut Pierre-Simon Laplace attributed the intensified fire conditions to human-induced climate change, with natural climate variability playing only a minor role. The study discussed how meteorological conditions that triggered the January 2025 Southern California fires are up to 5°C warmer, 15% drier, and about 20% windier. More broadly, a National Integrated Drought Information funded study in 2023 estimated a +172% increase in burned areas from 1971 to 2021. Almost all the observed increase in burned areas is due to human-caused climate change.
Conclusion
The devastating Southern California fires were a stark reminder of climate change making wildfires more frequent and destructive than ever before. Thousands of homes and businesses and dozens of lives unfortunately paid the price. In contrast, the historic Gulf Coast blizzard was a stark reminder of the potential for unusually severe and harsh winter weather in areas not accustomed to such conditions. The unprecedented snowfall and bitter cold closed many schools and roads, canceled flights, and caused widespread power outages. The main takeaway of the Gulf Coast blizzard is to better prepare for extended periods of cold, snow, power outages by stocking up on essential items including food and water, and having backup heating. The destructive Southern California wildfires, which caused tens of billions in damages, will take years to clean up. In the future, individuals should practice proactive wildfire preparedness by hardening homes to prevent flames and flying embers, clearing vegetation around homes to create buffer zones, and using fire-resistant building materials. In sharing this knowledge, people can hopefully learn to better prepare for more extreme weather in order to protect themselves and save lives.
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