The US National Weather Service has issued extreme heat warnings for parts of Southern California, including Los Angeles, through Thursday as temperatures are expected to reach 30 degrees Celsius. Burbank, a suburb north of Los Angeles, recorded 39°C on Saturday, a few degrees lower than the October record for the region set in 1987. A persistent area of high pressure will remain in place this week, bringing more dangerous heat and increased fire risk. Parts of Indonesia are in the midst of an extreme wildfire season, which has peaked over the past month. West Kalimantan (Borneo) and South Sumatra have been particularly affected. The lack of rainfall has dried out tropical soils, usually waterlogged, meaning fires have been able to spread quickly, above and below the surface. Indonesian soils are also extremely rich in peat, meaning that the smoke produced by fires contains higher levels of toxic gases such as sulfur dioxide and carbon monoxide. As a result, cities in surrounding areas and as far as Malaysia and Singapore have experienced reduced air quality in recent weeks. Droughts and forest fires are more common in this part of the world during El Niño events due to the suppression of storm activity. Indonesian firefighters work to extinguish forest fires near a residential area in Palembang, South Sumatra. Photograph: Muhammad Fajri/NurPhoto/Shutterstock On the other hand, El Niño is contributing to an extremely active period of tropical cyclones in the Pacific Ocean. After recent hurricanes in the eastern half of the basin, Super Typhoon Choi-Wan is now active and is a Category 4 typhoon southeast of Japan, although it is trending to strengthen. After developing on September 30, Choi-Wan moved through the Northern Mariana Islands as a tropical storm, causing power outages on the island of Tinian, forcing the closure of schools and government offices. Choi-Wan experienced rapid intensification after clearing the islands on Sunday and, as of Sunday night, had sustained winds of 150 mph and gusts up to 180 mph. The system is expected to move away from mainland Japan and areas affected by Typhoon Dujuan last month, while steadily weakening over the next week.
