Wildfires and soaring temperatures — the hellscape scientists warned us about is here

After an extended weekend of wildfires, part of an early fire season that has already seen a record 2 million acres burned and Death Valley-like temperatures smothering the San Fernando Valley, Californians would be right to wonder whether we are living in a hellscape. We are not, it’s safe to say. But we are living in the future that climate scientists have been trying to warn us about for years now.

No, climate change did not start the El Dorado fire Saturday near Yucaipa. That, authorities report, was caused by...