The climate crisis increased the likelihood and intensity of the meteorological conditions that sparked record-breaking wildfires in eastern Canada. Earlier this summer and drove plumes of dangerous air into the US, according to a new analysis released Tuesday.
The likelihood of the hot, dry, and windy conditions that sparked the Quebec fires between May and July was more than doubled by human-caused climate change, according to scientists from the World Weather Attribution initiative, which estimates the contribution of climate change to extreme weather events. This fire-prone weather was also at least 20% more intense.
According to the analysis, climate change increased the intensity of Quebec’s fire season by 50% from early July to the end.
Climate
According to Friederike Otto, co-founder of WWA and senior lecturer at the UK’s Grantham Institute, the study’s findings may understate the impact of climate change because it utilized extremely cautious projections.
Because of the myriad elements that affect them, wildfires are difficult to research, but according to experts, climate change, which is being fuel by the burning of fossil fuels, is tipping the scales in favor of more destructive fires.
According to Clair Barnes, a research associate at the Grantham Institute and report author, “it’s becoming evident that the dry and warm conditions conducive to wildfires are becoming more common and more severe due to climate change all across the planet.
This year’s fire season in Canada was unusual due to the hot and dry weather. Since records began keeping track of temperature in Canada in 1940, May to June broke the previous record by a significant margin of 0.8 degrees Celsius (1.4 Fahrenheit).
Over 37 million acres, or more than 15 million hectares, of land have burnt nationwide—an area roughly the size of Illinois. At least 17 people have died in the flames, and more than 150,000 more have had to leave their homes.
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