Climate Change Fueling Wildfires in North America and Russia

Wildfires fueled by record heat have ravaged areas across North America and Russia this year. This year is very much like last year. However, the western fires of 2015, were not as widespread and they came later than they did this year. 

There is strong evidence that global warming has lengthened wildfire seasons. This research is corroborated by recent observations in North America and Russia. Across the continent warm temperatures are melting snowpacks, exacerbating droughts and contributing to the number and size of wildfires. Heat is an important catalyst for forest fires and temperatures continue to soar. Even before the start of summer Phoenix hit a sweltering 127 degree F [or 53 C]. Heat records are being broken in many states and in parts of Southern California temperatures exceeded 120 degrees Fahrenheit (50 degrees Celsius).

Climate Change Fueling Forest Fires in the North American West

In North America the summer of 2015 has just gotten underway and already fires are raging across vast swaths of the continent. Forest fires are burning across the Canadian west and Alaska. These fires are getting worse and they are increasingly being attributed to climate change. Tens of thousands of people have had to be evacuated. In the sparsely populated province of Saskatchewan alone 13,000 people had to be moved, making this the largest such evacuation in the province's history.

The Dangerous Feedback Loop Between Wildfires and Climate Change

In North America, wildfires are destroying vast swaths of forest and creating massive plumes of smoke which extend across the continent and all the way to the Mid-Atlantic.

In Canada, there are huge fires raging in B.C., the Northwest Territories, and Ontario. As of August 6, a total of 3,840 wildfires have destroyed over 3,508,582 million acres so far this year. As of August 12 there were a total of 41 large wildfires burning in the U.S. Ten in California, ten in Washington and ten in Oregon. A total of eight fires are burning in Idaho and three in Montana. The land mass impacted by these fires totals 714,044 acres.

As revealed by a Climate Central analysis, wildfires are on the increase. Their examination of 42 years of U.S. Forest Service records for 11 Western states shows that there are now 7 times more fires greater than 10,000 acres each year and nearly 5 times more fires larger than 25,000 acres each year. There are also twice as many fires over 1,000 acres each year, with an average of more than 100 per year from 2002 through 2011, compared with less than 50 during the 1970’s. On average, wildfires burn twice as much land area each year as they did 4 decades ago.

Wildfires Peat and Carbon

Boreal forests and Arctic tundras contain peat which stores carbon that is released when it burns. This is one of the worst years ever for wildfires in Canada's boreal forests. Up to two million hectares of boreal forests are expected to burn in the Northwest Territories alone this year.

The relationship between heat and wildfires around the Arctic is complex. Some areas like western Siberia are not experiencing the abnormal heat that we see in the Northwest Territories. Scientists, including those at NASA attribute this to the looping waves of the jet stream the facilitate the persistence of ridges of dry air in some locations while moisture-laden troughs linger in others.

Video - The Relationship Between Climate Change & Wildfires

President Obama's Science Advisor, Dr. John Holdren, explains in less than three minutes how the growing number of intense wildfires are linked in part, to climate change. Learn more at http://wh.gov/climate-change