So far, there have only been minor fires on Cortes, Quadra and Read Islands, but the BC government warns that the province will see more large fires in the future. “Longer, hotter summers lead to more droughts and a longer wildfire season. Dry conditions make it easier for lightning storms and strong winds to start fires. These fires can spread, combine and burn for longer.”
This is not a local phenomenon. A new study published in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution found that there has been more than a two fold increase in the number of wildfires around the globe, during the past two decades.
There was a 7-fold increase in Alaska, Canada and Russia.
Lead author Calum Cunningham, from the University of Tasmania in Australia, told APF that, “The effects of climate change are no longer just something of the future. We are now witnessing the manifestation of a drying and heating atmosphere.”
Cunningham and his colleagues used satellite data to study the energy intensity of nearly 31 million daily fire events between 2003 and 2023. Their focus was about 2,900 extreme events.
Links of Interest
- You’re not imagining it: extreme wildfires are now more common – Nature
- B.C.’s wildfire crisis arrived decades earlier than experts forecast – CBC
Top image credit: Large fire burning in the mountains – Photo by Mike Newbry on Unsplash
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