Australia's Wildfires and La Niña Trigger California Drought and Global Climate Events: Study

A new study suggests that the Australian bushfires of 2019 and 2020 triggered a chain of events in the atmosphere, ultimately cooling the tropical Pacific Ocean and hastening the formation of a La Niña climate pattern, which is associated with droughts throughout much of California. The research also suggests that wildfire emissions can help predict future La Niñas and droughts. The study was funded by NASA, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the U.S. National Science Foundation and published in the journal Science Advances.