Drought, Heat, Fire: Call it Anything but Don’t Call it Climate Change

“Hundreds of firefighters have joined efforts to tackle two of the biggest wildfires ever seen in the US states of Colorado and New Mexico.

The Colorado blaze shrouded the state capital, Denver, 60 miles (100km) away, in smoke, hampering rescue efforts.

…Smaller fires also burnt in nine drought-stricken western states, including Utah, California and Arizona.”

BBC

But you got to go to Jeff Masters at his Wunderground blog to get a whiff of the word “climate change”

 

Western U.S. wildfires expected to increase due to climate change

Expect a large increase in fires over much of the globe late this century due to climate change, says research published this month in the Journal Ecosphere. Using fire models driven by output from sixteen climate models used in the 2007 IPCC report, the researchers, led by Max Moritz of UC Berkeley, found that 38% of the planet should see increases in fire activity over the next 30 years. This figure increases to 62% by the end of the century. However, in many regions where precipitation is expected to increase–particularly in the tropics–there should be decreased fire activity. The scientists predicted that 8% of Earth will see decreases in fire probability over the next 30 years, and 20% will see decreases by the end of the century.

Is your city doing, or dithering on climate change? See Climate Dithering.