From 2023: Warming Set the Stage for Canada’s Record Fires, Study Finds
#ClimateChange has made hot, dry and windy conditions like those that fueled this year’s blazes at least twice as common as they would otherwise be.
By Raymond Zhong
Aug. 22, 2023
"Hot, dry and gusty conditions like those that fed this year’s #wildfires in eastern Canada are now at least twice as likely to occur there as they would be in a world that humans hadn’t warmed by burning #FossilFuels, a team of researchers said Tuesday, providing a first scientific assessment of climate change’s role in intensifying the country’s fires.
"So far this year, fires have ravaged 37 million acres across nearly every Canadian province and territory. That’s more than twice as large as the amount of Canadian land that burned in any other year on record. Tens of thousands of people — including most of Yellowknife, the capital of the Northwest Territories — have fled their homes. Smoke has turned the air toxic in cities as far south as Atlanta.
"Wildfires can be ignited by lightning or human-related causes such as unattended campfires, downed power lines and arson. The way fires spread and grow is shaped by the structure and composition of the forests and landscape. But heat, rain and snow affect how flammable the trees and brush are, which can determine how intensely blazes burn and how tough they are to put out.
"In an analysis issued Tuesday, researchers with the World Weather Attribution initiative estimated that eastern Canada now had a 4 to 5 percent chance, in any given year, of experiencing high-fire-risk conditions as severe or worse than this year’s. This likelihood is at least double what it would be in a hypothetical world without human-caused climate change, they said. And the probability will increase as nations blanket the planet with more heat-trapping gases.
" 'Fire-weather risks due to climate change are increasing,' said Dorothy Heinrich, a technical adviser at the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Center who worked on the analysis. 'Both mitigation and dedicated adaptation strategies are going to be required to reduce the drivers of risk and decrease its impacts on people’s lives, livelihoods and communities.' "
Read more:
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/22/climate/canada-wildfires-climate-change.html
Archived version:
https://archive.ph/IuoTp
#ClimateCrisis #ClimateCatastrophe
#CanadaWx #Wildfires #ClimateDiary
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