It was a week of fire and ice. It began with millions of people across the US shivering amid blizzard conditions and frigid air that lasted for days, thanks to a jet stream that slips out of its usual path more often these days. Then, catastrophe in California, with wind-whipped flames taking off in a landscape parched by months of drought to become Los Angeles' worst-ever wildfires. To cap it off, major weather monitoring agencies confirmed 2024 as the hottest year in global history. Even more dire, four of the six agencies said it was the first full year Earth went beyond a warming threshold seen as critical to limiting the worst effects of climate change. Welcome to one wild week of the climate crisis, scientists say. There will be more. For the average person, this means the changes you're experiencing more extreme weather, rising costs due to climate impacts, threats to food and water security aren't anomalies, said Victor Gensini, a meteorology professor at Northern Illino