Daily Herald opinion: Another horrific wildfire: We must come to grips with climate change if we hope to limit the tragedies extreme weather is producing

The horrific wildfire images being relayed from Southern California the past several days are almost impossible to comprehend.

The expanse of the devastation; the thousands of homes, schools and businesses destroyed; the tens of thousands of people displaced; the financial impact estimated to be as much as $150 billion. The affected community that has been obliterated is, as Time Magazine pointed out, equivalent in population to Little Rock, Arkansas. Or, closer to home, Aurora.

Yes, it is almost impossible for all of us to comprehend.

Just as the wildfire in 2023 that wiped out Lahaina, the historic onetime whaling port on Maui's west coast, was all but impossible to comprehend. Just as the massive flooding Hurricane Helene brought last autumn to Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia was hard to comprehend. Just as the day last July when a record 27 tornadoes struck the Chicago area was stunning to imagine, particularly when six more struck the following day.

Such human heartache fills the news reports of the losses suffered by those living in parts of Los Angeles. Lost homes, lost heirlooms, lost scrapbooks, lost memories. Only cruel souls would fail to empathize.

And certainly, people being people, most hearts go out. People being people, many wish for ways to help, however they can.

But grazing along social media and along America's vast polarization, there is plenty of vitriol too. Sadly so. Some of it consists of needed questions. But much of it is heartless misinformation or uninformed opinion and speculation. And some of it feels like cynical and divisive political opportunism.

What the victims of this tragedy need for the moment is comfort and support. There will be plenty of time later for investigating the protections and response, plenty of time later for assigning, when and if necessary, blame. Now is a time to bond and heal.

We have little doubt that in looking back, the forensics will find room for improvement. It is not unlikely that errors have been made and that as a people, we will and must find better ways to protect ourselves against extreme weather.

It is impossible to point a finger at any one extreme weather event and say it was caused by global warming. We have, of course, always experienced extreme weather events.

But let there be no mistake. Global warming is here. It's not just coming. It's here and so are the extreme weather events that are a part of it. And the more we resist confronting it and the causes of it, the worse our conditions will become. The extreme weather events we are suffering now are bad and here to stay, but understand: Scientists say it could get a whole lot worse.

Coincidentally, just as the wildfires were raging in Los Angeles, the year-end report on global temperatures was released. And it showed the earth's average surface temperature in 2024 was the warmest on record.

An anomaly? Hardly. The 10 hottest single years since the data began being recorded in 1880 were the last 10 years. Think about that. Year after year, hotter and hotter.

“Between record-breaking temperatures and wildfires currently threatening our centers and workforce in California,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said, “it has never been more important to understand our changing planet.”

We must deal with this reality.