The authors estimated that upcoming decades – between 20 – may experience an increase in the average summer burned area in California of up to 52% over the current average burned area.
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How were the scientists able to tease out the impacts of climate change on the fires? The research team, led by Marco Turco from the University of Murcia in Spain, used computers to model the climate drivers of summer wildfire activity in California, both with natural climate variation alone and with human-caused climate change effects.īeginning in 2001, the team found, the drivers of increasing summer burn area are all due to climate change, with no natural factors involved. Besides their immense environmental impacts, these fires also have had widespread negative impacts on human health and mortality and numerous socio-economic consequences." No natural factors involved Specifically, according to the study, "the ten-largest California wildfires all happened in the last 20 years, five of which occurred in 2020 and eight after 2017. In fact, the average summer burn area in forests in northern and central portions of California has increased by five times between 19 than between 19, the study said.įire risks: State Farm will no longer insure new homes in California because of wildfire risks The amount of land burned by wildfires has exploded in California in recent decades. Gavin Newsom called it "a climate damn emergency." The amount of land burned by fires in California has 'exploded' In Northern California in 2021, for example, the Dixie Fire became the largest single wildfire in state history, burning about 1 million acres and more than 700 homes.Īs fires raged in the state in 2020, California Gov. Some of the key factors linking wildfire risk to climate change outlined in the study include below-average precipitation, higher temperatures in the spring months, lower springtime mountain snowpack, hotter summer temperatures, more frequent heat extremes and a decrease in the number of rainy days during fire season.
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Federal officials say extremes in drought and heat, fueled by climate change, are drying out forests in the West and Alaska and are the leading driver of an increase in fire weather. Over the past five years, wildfires have torched more than 38 million acres across the country, destroying thousands of homes and structures.
"Climate change, primarily caused by the burning of fossil fuels, is increasing the frequency and severity of wildfires not only in California but also all over the world," the state of California's Air Resource Board said. Scientists say human-caused climate change is caused by the burning of fossil fuels such as oil, coal and gas, which release greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere and has caused global air and ocean temperatures to rise to levels that cannot be explained by natural factors.Īlong with fueling extreme weather events such as floods and hurricanes, it's also impacted the extent and severity of wildfire seasons in the U.S. How does climate change worsen wildfires?
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