ariel cohen, thank you so much for staying on top of this. we'll talk again soon. appreciate you.ay safe. i want to turn now to u.s. politics. and donald trump carried out a rambling news conference at mar-a-lago on tuesday filled with provocative remarks. many of them directed at the international community. the incoming u.s. president talked a lot about land grabs and even suggested that one of america's closest allies is not immune from acquisition. >> canada and the united states, that would really be something you get rid of, that artificially drawn line, and you take a look at what that looks like, and it would also be much better for national security. don't forget, we basically protect canada. >> canada quickly dismissed any talk of becoming another u.s. state. outgoing canadian prime minister justin trudeau posted, quote, there's not a snowball's chance in hell of that happening. trump also setting his sights on the panama canal and greenland, and he's not ruling out military force. >> can you assure the world that as you try to get control of these areas, you are not goi

let's bring in ariel cohen now. e is the meteorologist in charge of the national weather service in los angeles. ariel, very grateful to have you on the show this morning. what is the status of the conditions around battling these fires? and what can residents expect as this continues into the next day? >> first of all, i want to say on behalf of the national weather service that our hearts go out to everyone who has been impacted by these fires. these fires are going through, raging through our own communities in our area, and it is heartbreaking to see what has happened. we know that the loss has been truly catastrophic and extensive across the area. >> you know, we're here standing by our partners in the emergency operations center in the los angeles area. >> make sure that we're working together to foster public safety as we go forward. we are past the peak of the destructive windstorm component of this event, with those 80 to 100 mile an hour wind gusts being in the past at this point. nevertheless, strong santa

. >> joining us now is ariel cohen, meteorologist in charge of the national weather service station in los angeles. ariel, thanks for being back on the show this morning i appreciate it. can you give us the latest on where this fire is, what the status is? is it getting worse? getting better at what the fight looks like? >> yes. >> we have two. >> wildfires right now in los angeles county. >> that continue. >> to grow at. >> this. >> point. there's definitely been a lot of work done also to slow their growth. and we're seeing that one is in northwest los angeles county. that's the hughes fire. and that developed explosively during the daytime hours on wednesday. early this thursday morning. the environment remains highly conducive for these fires to continue to spread. and any new fires to develop and and grow very significantly. if there were to be ignitions. the sepulveda fire also had expanded across portions of the eastern santa monica's, including the 405, threatening some areas that are very highly populated. and so overall, we're remain at a very high state of readiness when it

ariel cohen joins me now with the meteorologist in charge at the national weather service in los angeles and oxnard. ariel, good to have you with us. so when we look at where things stand, can you just put in perspective for us? what are the areas right now that are deemed to be at the most acute risk? >> absolutely. right now we are closely monitoring the mountains and foothills of los angeles county into a large portion of central and southern ventura county, with higher elevation wind gusts over 60 miles per hour. absolutely bone dry. relative humidity is ongoing, really creating a very volatile combination of parameters that have come together to support rapid growth and explosive growth of any fires that are ongoing or have yet to occur. this is going to be continuing through tomorrow morning, and red flag warnings remain in effect until 10 a.m. tomorrow, friday. >> so we're looking at those red flag warnings until 10 a.m. there's also the threat of rain, which i think most folks would think this is great rain. rain could really cause some significant issues. as my colleague natasha

let's discuss how the weather might actually help firefighting efforts with ariel cohen. he's the meteorologist in charge for the national weather service in los angeles and oxnard. ariel, thank you so much for joining us this afternoon. firefighters have gotten a break from some of the violent winds we've been seeing over the last few days this morning, but there is concern that there are more wind gusts coming in over the weekend. how do you see this window of time now playing out? >> we are far from out of the woods. >> that window of time when the winds have decreased in many areas, is quickly coming to a close. we're already seeing wind gusts over 50 to 60mph over the mountains, and those will be spreading down into the valleys of western los angeles county, all the way through the santa monica mountains to the malibu coast, where we're expecting high end red flag warning conditions to become reestablished within the next 2 to 3 hours and then continue through the evening, overnight hours and into friday with those warnings remaining in effect until friday evening. no

let's get right to doctor ariel cohen, meteorologist in charge with the national weather service in losngeles. doctor, thank you so much for being with us, the mayor of los angeles. and we're going to put as many pictures as we can so people can see the conditions in los angeles. during our conversation, the mayor of los angeles just posted that she expects these conditions to get worse. what are you expecting the next several hours? >> powerful winds, destructive winds are ongoing right now. >> we're getting observations showing 70 to 90 mile per hour winds over the mountains, continuing some of the lower elevations from the san gabriel valley all the way to the malibu coast area, getting 50 to 70 mile an hour winds that are going to continue to carry these fires rapidly forward, creating just paths of destruction. and everyone needs to be listening very carefully to emergency notifications, evacuation orders. and when they come, you need to take action. evacuate to save your life. >> what population centers are you most concerned about at this minute? >> right now, areas from the pasa

ariel cohen, very grateful for your time this morning, sir.hopefully people will be heeding those warnings. thanks very much. >> thank you for having me. >> all right. ahead here on cnn this morning, the biden administration and trump transition team working in tandem. their goal, a ceasefire deal between israel and hamas. and this morning, an agreement reportedly closer than ever. plus playing politics, will the blame game get in the way of helping people in southern california? >> these imbeciles in office and they continue to do it. they don't deserve anything, to be honest with you, unless they show us they're going to make some changes. cnn news central. today at 7:00 eastern. >> at morgan stanley old school. hard work meets bold new thinking to help you see untapped possibilities and relentlessly work with you to make them real. >> when the temperature drops, you've got two choices. close your eyes and think warm thoughts. or open your eyes and get out here. there's only one vehicle lineup that embraces everything the cold has to offer.

we will get more on all of this as we talk with ariel cohen, a meteorologist with the national weather service in los angeles. dr. cohen, i think a lot of people, we have so many questions, all of us. about the magnitude, the scope of these fires and the first thing that strikes me as unusual are the winds and how fierce they are. can you talk about how unusual these winds are in terms of their velocity and ongoing status? >> we have truly had some of the most historic combinations of winds, wind storm that combined with very dry conditions. fuel and vegetation for the fires to burn through. from all the precipitation we got, it led to these very catastrophic circumstances. >> there were these two years of deluge in 2022 and 2023. really wet seasons in california. and then there was this year has been incredibly dry. the feast or famine aspect of all of this, how unusual is that, that you would have really wet and really dry seasons? >> it is certainly not common. what we have seen the past 24 hours are apocalyptic scenes. no other way to put it. and that is something that really is a

ariel cohen. it is quite a time to be looking at these images in los angeles with -- >> our hearts go out to everyone. i want to say on behalf of the national weather service, you know, these are our communities. these are our people. it is so heart breaking to see all of the devastation that's occurred and i just want to make sure everyone knows that we are here for them. we work very closely with emergency management, fire agencies, law enforcement. so that we have a community response to have people be prepared and respond to these disasters. our deepest sympathies and heart go out to everyone who has been affected. >> thank you so much for your time. everybody, heed those warnings. we will be monitoring the situation throughout the hour. >>> a new report on what donald trump did just hours before asking the supreme court for a really big favor. here's a hint. it involves justice samuel alito. but first those deadly fires continue to rage in los angeles county and the full scope of devastation

joining me now is ariel cohen, meteorologist in charge at the national weather service in los angeles. ariel. we are so lucky to have you right now. we know you guys are extremely busy, but if you could just help us and our viewers around the world really understand what this combination of different factors has been that made this fire get so bad in the first place and affect tens of thousands of of residents. >> first of all, i want to say that this is a very heartbreaking situation. it is incredibly sad to see what society is going through during this exceptionally destructive event. i can't emphasize it enough. on behalf of the national weather service, our hearts go out to everyone who is being impacted by these fires. you know, we're in the midst of a destructive windstorm right now. a once in a decade or two decade type of wind event with winds now gusting upwards of nearly 100mph across the san gabriel mountains and the nearby foothills, and then also across the santa monica mountains, extending across parts of the los angeles basin area, where we're having trees coming down.

. >> joining us now, ariel cohen, meteorologist in charge at the national weather service in los angelesthank you so much for joining us. a lot of people are asking why we weren't warned about these winds. just explain how difficult that would have been. >> we have these winds in the forecast for many days, issuing alerts of destructive wind storms, expected all the way from the san gabriel mountains to the san fernando valley, san gabriel valley, as well as the santa monica mountains and everywhere in between. this is an event that had exceptionally long lead times, not only of the powerful windstorm that we had anticipated, but also the potential for particularly dangerous situation. red flag warning, fire, weather conditions. this event had significant notification ahead of time. and you know, i know that when we have these wildfires spread rapidly, you know, it's a very horrifying experience for many. it just emphasizes the absolute need to take all of the notifications, all of the emergency alerts from local law enforcement and emergency management personnel. seriously, because seco

earlier i also had a chance to speak to ariel cohen. he's meteorologist in charge at the national weather service in l.a. about the situation on the ground. >> it is incredibly sad to see what society is going through during this exceptionally destructive event. i can't emphasize it enough. on behalf of the national weather service, our hearts go out to everyone who is being impacted by these fires. you know, we're in the midst of a destructive windstorm right now. a once in a decade or two decade type of wind event, with winds now gusting upwards of nearly 100mph across the san gabriel mountains and the nearby foothills, and then also across the santa monica mountains, extending across parts of the los angeles basin area, where we're having trees coming down. significant structural damage already occurring, and it will only get worse overnight. and then with the very dry air mass that settled over the area of very rare, volatile combination of parameters has come together to fuel the. explosive development of horrific wildfires across