Caldor fires in California and Greenwood Lake Fire in Minnesota are fueled by climate change, a new report concludes.
A wildfire in California and Minnesota is forcing visitors to change their minds at two US resorts as a new study global warming in the process conditions which causes a large fire.
Wildfires have already destroyed hundreds of homes and are heading into Lake Tahoe, where thousands of firefighters are trying to set fire to the area. On Wednesday, Caldor Fire was less than 32km (20 miles) east of the lake that crossed the California-Nevada line.
Caldor Fire inside California “knocking on the door” of the Lake Tahoe basin, state fire chief Thom Porter said this week, causing ash to fall and forcing visitors inside to avoid unhealthy air.
The fire has burned more than 510sq km (197sq miles) and destroyed at least 461 homes since August 14 in Sierra Nevada southwest of the lake. It was 11 percent and threatened more than 17,000 homes.
Although there were no people to leave Lake Tahoe, it was impossible to ignore the blanket so heavy that it closed schools for a second day in Reno, Nevada, which is about 100km (60 miles) from the fire.
Meanwhile, U.S. Forest Service officials have extended the closure of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness as the largest fire in Minnesota doubled in size.
The Lakewood fire burning in the Superior National Forest in northeastern Minnesota erupted to about 77sq km (30sq miles) on Monday, and four new small fires broke out inside the BWCA.
Officials decided to close a popular forest one week, until September 3, which frustrated visitors who had spent months planning their trips there and to those who traded with other businesses in the million-acre desert.
Most of the fires have been caused by lightning in the desert this summer, with Greenwood Lake Fire forced to evacuate about 280 homes and homes since it was spotted on August 15 about 24km (15 miles) southwest of the town of Isabella.
Climate change is the cause
The effects of climate change have intensified wildfires over the past 30 years, according to scientists, as hot and dry climates continue to contribute to climate change and fires.
“Climate change is causing climate change, and global warming is leading to greater drying in the west,” said Kaitlyn Weber, a data analyst whose organization, Climate Central, released this week’s report on climate change and fire.
Weber told Reuters news agency: “Increasing the risk of catastrophic fires.”
Climatologist Michael Wehner noted that such an increase in fire risk is not limited to the western United States, and countries e.g. Greece, The chicken, Spain and France are now experiencing a series of fires.
The US says the east could be at risk, said Wehner, one of the leaders of August’s report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
For example, Minnesota’s Greenwood Fire has burned about 8,100 hectares (20,000 acres) in the past 10 days.
“I expect there to be an increase in fire risk in the middle years,” Wehner said. “Dry seasons are always at risk for things like this, but you can burn forests in the eastern United States.”
Weber, of Climate Central, said that while climate change is hot in many countries, fires are also a threat in many areas.
The report is “a warning to us that we really need to pay attention to this,” he said.