There are currently 11 wildfires blazing in the Arctic circle, The Guardian reported Wednesday.
Wildfires continued to burn across California this weekend, abetted by record high temperatures that caused power outages affecting thousands of customers in Los Angeles, CNN reported Sunday.
The summer of 2018 is shaping up to be one for the record books. Locations across the Northern Hemisphere have recorded their hottest temperatures ever this past week, the Washington Post reported Wednesday. While the Post points out that no single heat record can be linked to climate change, this summer's high temperatures follow a trend of record-setting years and open a window into what will be the new normal if we don't act quickly to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Twenty-nine uncontained wildfires are blazing in the Western U.S. right now, raising concerns that 2018's fire season could rival 2017's record-breaking season for devastation, The New York Times reported Monday.
The fast-moving County Fire in Northern California, which started Saturday and has burnt more than 60,000 acres of land as of late Monday, has belched smoke into the skies over San Francisco, Napa, Sonoma and San Mateo counties, National Public Radio (NPR) reported.
In 2017, the effects of drought and climate change led California to suffer its most destructive wildfire season in history, which caused $10 billion in damage and left 44 dead, according to The New York Times.
As summer begins, 2018 isn't starting out any easier for the Golden State. On Monday, authorities ordered the evacuation of 2,500 residents of a rural community in Spring Valley, California, out of fear a raging fire would cut it off, Reuters reported.
A number of wildfires are currently ablaze in the Western U.S. as severe drought envelops much of the region.
The 416 Fire in Colorado, which has scorched 27,420 acres since it broke out on June 1, has forced the evacuation of more than 2,000 homes and the closure of all 1.8 million acres of the San Juan National Forest.
As part of the Global Climate Action Summit, World Wildlife Fund (WWF), together with a broad coalition of partners, on Monday issued the 30X30 Forests, Food and Land Challenge: calling on businesses, states, city and local governments, and global citizens to take action for better forest and habitat conservation, food production and consumption, and land use, working together across all sectors of the economy to deliver up to 30 percent of the climate solutions needed by 2030.
By Alex Kirby
Southern California's wildfires are posing a growing risk, as the Sunshine State threatens to become too sunny for its own good. In many southern coastal areas, rising summer temperatures caused by spreading urbanization and the warming climate are driving off formerly common low-lying morning clouds and increasing the prospect of worse wildfires, U.S. scientists say.
The link between climate change and more frequent, severe wildfires is well-known, but two new studies published in Geophysical Research Letters this month provided more insight into exactly how warming temperatures are increasing fire risk around the world.
In fire-weary California, urbanization and global warming are increasing ground temperature along the southern coast, decreasing cloud cover and increasing the risk of wildfires.
