Wildfire
Severe heat and drought fuel wildfires, conditions scientists have linked to climate change.
hotter weather makes forests drier and more susceptible to burning.
Rising temperatures, a key indicator of climate change, evaporate more moisture from the ground, drying out the soil, and making vegetation more flammable.
At the same time, winter snowpacks are melting about a month earlier, meaning that the forests are drier for longer periods of time.
Meanwhile, shifting meteorological patterns can drive rain away from wildfire-prone regions, a phenomenon scientists discovered in California and have linked to human-made climate change.
Reference: edf.org