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2024 is officially the hottest year ever recorded on Planet Earth, at least while humans have been around, according to the official tallies from meteorological organizations around the world.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA), NASA and Copernicus—the EU's meteorological association—released their annual global temperature analyses [Friday]. They all found that Earth has warmed roughly 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) above temperatures in the 1800s, before people began burning vast reserves of fossil fuels.

The numbers vary slightly. NOAA reports 1.46 degrees C of warming, NASA, 1.47; and the EU's Copernicus, 1.6.

"The real punchline is, it was another really warm year," says Russell Vose, a climate scientist at NOAA's National Center for Environmental Information, the group that produces the temperature estimates.

A series of deadly wildfires in the greater Los Angeles area were still burning fiercely on Friday, decimating entire communities and leaving residents reeling as the infernos destroyed over 10,000 homes, businesses and other structures.

Five wildfires remained active in Los Angeles County, scorching more than 36,000 acres or about 56 square miles, an area about the size of Miami, according to Cal Fire. The largest blaze, the Palisades Fire, which ranks as the most destructive in Los Angeles history, scorched over 20,000 acres and was 8% contained as of Friday morning.

Meanwhile, the Eaton Fire near Altadena and Pasadena was at 3% containment as it grew to more than 13,600 acres. Several other fires have ignited across the county as fierce winds persisted, including the Kenneth Fire that broke out Thursday near the Woodland Hills neighborhood. The blaze prompted evacuation orders Thursday night that have since been lifted.

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The six biggest banks in the US have all quit the global banking industry’s net zero target-setting group, with the imminent inauguration of Donald Trump as president expected to bring political backlash against climate action.

JP Morgan is the latest to withdraw from the UN-sponsored net zero banking alliance (NZBA), following Citigroup, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo and Goldman Sachs. All six have left since the start of December.

Analysts have said the withdrawals are an attempt to head off “anti-woke” attacks from rightwing US politicians, which are expected to escalate when Trump is sworn in as the country’s 47th president in just under a fortnight.

A fast-moving brush fire fueled by dangerously high-speed Santa Ana winds threatened homes in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles on Tuesday, prompting mass evacuation orders for roughly 30,000 residents and power shutoffs.

The fire was first reported at 10:10 a.m. local time along the West Sunset Boulevard, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department and CalFire. It grew to 200 acres within about 90 minutes, threatening nearby homes and emitting a thick black smoke. By late afternoon, Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley said the fire had rapidly spread to 1,200 acres.

Crowley told reporters that several structures have been damaged and no injuries have been reported. The chief said over 10,000 households and 13,000 structures are threatened.

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Explosions roared through the canyons lining the Klamath River earlier this year, signaling a new chapter for the region that hugs the Oregon-California border.

In October, the removal of four hydroelectric dams built on the river was completed – the largest project of its kind in US history.

The blast of the final dam was just the beginning. The work to restore the river, which winds 263 miles (423km) from the volcanic Cascade mountain range in Oregon to the Pacific coast in northern California, is now under way.

Already it’s been among the most hopeful environmental stories of past years. “It has been more successful than we ever imagined,” said Ren Brownell, the spokesperson for the Klamath River Renewal Corporation, a non-profit created to oversee and implement the removal, adding: “There’s an incredible amount of joy.”

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