Tuesday's report, too rapid for peer-review yet, found global warming boosted the likelihood of high fire weather conditions in this month's fires by 35% and its intensity by 6%.

With parts of Los Angeles County still smoldering from wildfires, the expected rain this weekend would seem like a welcome relief. But how the rain falls could make the difference between a disaster respite or a disaster repeat.

Snow shut down a key interstate north of Los Angeles for hours on Monday while weekend downpours doused wildfires across Southern California in the first significant storm of the season for the region that had not seen rainfall for eight months.

Rain is easing after Southern California’s first significant storm of the season brought weekend downpours that aided firefighters but caused ash, mud and debris to flow across streets in wildfire-bur

More rain fell Monday on parts of Southern California after causing mudflows over the weekend, helping firefighters but boosting the risk of toxic ash runoff in areas scorched by Los Angeles-area wildfires.