Global warming directly related to increased risk of wildfires - Record-Searchlight (blog)

According to a new study published in the The Holocene journal by a researcher and geography professor from the University of Utah, extreme fire weather has been linked to "increasing temperatures and drought driven by climate change."

The study "found that the extent and intensity of wildfires on a continental and global basis is connected to changing temperatures and climate."

According to the National Climatic Data Center, "During July, warm and dry weather brought ideal wildfire conditions to a large portion of the nation. The 2.01 million acres that were burned by wildfires was the 4th most on record, while the 9,869 fires was the 5th most in the 2000-2012 record for July.

"As a whole, the contiguous U.S. had its record warmest and 28th driest July on record. Warmer-than-average temperatures were anchored across the Northern Rockies, most of the Plains, through the Midwest, and along most of the Eastern Seaboard."

The study found that a documented decrease in wildfire activity from 1500 to 1800 was caused by a cooler climate. In other words, as the climate cools, wildfire activity decreases and as the climate warms, wildfire activity increases.

"'The drop in fire [after about A.D. 1500] has been linked previously to the population collapse. We're saying no, there is enough independent evidence that the drop in fire was caused by cooling climate,' said the study's principal author, Mitchell Power, an assistant professor of geography at the University of Utah."

The implication is that climate is a large-scale driver of fire. That's a key finding. Climate is driving fire on global and continental scales."

Power said, "The decrease in fire on a very large scale - globally and in the Americas - was controlled by this cooling climate, which began prior to the population collapse, and climate alone is sufficient to explain large scale changes in burning. In a world where climate is rapidly changing we need to pay more attention to this relationship between climate and fire."

"In a cooler atmosphere, you tend to get reduced convection, so you get reduced thunderstorms and ignition from lightning. Cooler climate also tends to maintain high levels of fuel moisture and soil moisture."

You can read more from the University of Utah Media Release: When the World Burned Less (Study: Cool Climate, Not Population Loss, Led to Fewer Fires)

Previous studies linked global warming with increased wildfire activity in Canada and Australia.