January 24, 2025
3 pain read
The rain comes to burn Los Angeles and bring his risks
The surroundings of Los Angeles expects to rain this weekend, allowing to rest on fire during the month, but increasing the risk of waste slip.

Palisades Fire Trees are seen from Will Rogers State Park, the City of Los Angeles is on the back on January 15, 2025.
Los Angeles has been in the hands of the area Fire and wind This month, and this weekend a third element will be in line with the mix: water.
The rain is planned as soon as it will begin on Saturday afternoon and also follows Kristan Lund Meteorologists in Los Angeles National Weather Service Office. Field It takes precipitationBut experts are carefully cautious to the situation because The rain produces its risks in areas that recently burned-The same also can cause mud falls and similar dangers.
“The rain is good because we were very dry,” Lund says. “However, if we have greater rain rates or if we receive thunderstorms, it’s really much more dangerous because you can get waste flows.”
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In Los Angeles (California) a hill burned after the palisades fire on the Mandeville Canyon area on January 12, 2025.
Kyle Grillot / Bloomberg via Getty Images
The fires do several things that can increase the risk of the landscape, roasted material, earth and waste control.
When Fire is hot or long enoughThey leave the invisible layer of wax material on the surface of the Earth. It develops from decomposed leaves and other organic materials that are naturally in the vomiting hydrophobic compounds or water. The fire evaporates this garbage, and the gas that emerges enters the upper soil, where it is rapidly cooled and condensed, forming a slippery layer.
When this phenomenon falls on the ground in the affected ground, it cannot be sunk beyond the hydrophobic layer; So the water is poured, and often transports waste. “All the trees, all branches, burnt all, unfortunately, if it rains, that things floats,” Lund says. “It’s really worrisome.”
Such non-severely severe layer to create a hydrophobic layer can cause waste flows to climate scientists from the University of Austle Texas. In normal conditions, the trees and other plants catch a little rain on the surface, slowing down the descending journey of the water. But there is much less greenery in the new burned lands; All rain immediately plays the ground.
And while healthy vegetation holds the earth with roots, Fire can be easily burned Fine roots that make the most part of that work. “So you have that loose land that can be transported also,” says the toums.
This month Three biggest fires about Los Angeles They created almost 50,000 hectares of fresh burns, Lund warned, and some of these scars are on mountainous land facilitates muddle. Current predictions suggest that the rain will fall below the quarter-inch rate of the hour, below the intensity that tends to increase the risk of waste flows, according to Lund. But this weekend the region has a 10 to 20 percent chance to be thunderstorms, which can cause short rain explosions, which can be as old as the flow of flowers.
Fortunately, the rain should also help the firefighters continue to mow the fires that follow active. The largest, Palisades Fire, is now 77 percent. The second largest, Eaton Fire, is in 95 percent. Hughes Fire is the third largest and there is only 56 percent. It can be a fire fully embedded but still burned. The maintenance percentage corresponds to the amount of the perimeter that will prevent firefighters from expanding.
The rain of this weekend can offer rest, but it will not end the risk of being regional fires. “Unfortunately, we need two to three inches to actually finish what we call a fire time,” Lund says. “It will help, but will not come out of fire.”
Even after leaving the fire, the risk of waste flows will be maintained, and will last farther away from the coming weeks. The waste flows are the most worrying years in the first two years, Lund says, but according to the conditions, it can be even more likely to occur after creating a burning scar. Recovering from a fire involves analyzing the ground, see what can be done in the risk of waste flow and to protect people in these areas, says toours. “There’s work to pass the storm and don’t happen to nothing. We are not clear yet. “
In general, the work of the Touma indicates this scenario-Last fire conditions and then large rains– It will be more and more common as climate change occurs and the warmer the atmosphere is able to maintain and give it to the rest. larger amounts of water. “We should expect more post-fire waste flows in the future, based on meteorological conditions only,” says the toums.