Canada record heat meets record wildfires; new reality say scientists

Canada is hit by record high temperatures and a record fire season at the same time this summer, bringing an unprecedented mix of heat, fire and dangerous plumes of smoke.

“I can’t stress enough how terrifying this moment is for our planet. With global temperature records being broken and fires and floods raging all over the world, our home is really on fire,” she said. Christina Dahl, principal climate scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientistsfor CNBC.

Climate change, caused by greenhouse gas emissions, is making the planet hotter and also increasing the potency of ingredients necessary for forest fires. Even if humans stopped burning all fossil fuels today, the carbon dioxide already in the atmosphere would continue to heat the planet for decades to come.

He explained: “If I had a magic wand and said, ‘No more greenhouse gases are being produced from human activities yet’, we would continue to warm for 30 to 50 years.” Michael FlaniganResearch Chair for Predictive Services, Emergency Management, and Fire Science at Thompson Rivers University, British Columbia.

This means that what is happening now is unprecedented, but it is also a harbinger of what is to come.

“This is the new normal, not the new normal, because we’re in a downward spiral,” Flanigan told CNBC.

And the fire season is far from over. There are currently 908 active fires burning in Canada, and 576 of them are classified as “out of control,” according to the report. The data is in a real-time dashboard managed by the Canadian Interagency Fire Center As of 2:15 p.m. EST on Thursday.

“I’m not sure where we’re going to end up with this because it keeps burning,” Flanigan told CNBC. “Some of these fires are huge. They’ll burn all summer, all fall, and some will burn through winter. Underground they smolder, and even though you can have snow on top of them, they keep burning underground. Then spring, the snow melts, and things get Hot, dry and windy. They float to the surface and begin to circulate again.”

Earlier in July, the Earth recorded its size Warmest average day since records began – then repeat the feat three times in four days.

Canada’s temperatures are no exception. Earlier this year, Fort Good Hope, at 66 degrees north latitude in the Northwest Territories, reached 37.4 degrees Celsius — more than 99 degrees Fahrenheit — setting a record for Canadian warmest at this latitude, according to the Canadian government. Subsequent readings in nearby communities were hotter, according to him newscast.

“We’re in uncharted waters here,” Dahl told CNBC.

“Since May, we’ve seen a pattern of heat domes develop in parts of North America,” Dahl told CNBC. A heat dome is an atmospheric event that occurs when The atmosphere traps hot air Like a cover or cover, like The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration describes it. “These areas of extreme heat tend to last for long periods of time — weeks in some cases. The heat dome that developed in May has been associated with the development and spread of fires in Alberta that kick-started Canada’s record fire season.”

“I’ve never seen it start this early this far north,” Flanigan told CNBC. Before he began working in academia, Flanigan worked for the Canadian Forest Service for over 30 years.

Hot weather dries up vegetation, which serves as fuel for forest fires.

“The warmer it gets, the more efficient the atmosphere is at absorbing moisture from the fuel,” Flanigan told CNBC. “It’s not a linear increase, it’s almost exponential.”

Warmer temperatures also lead to more lightning, Flanigan said. In Canada, nearly half of wildfires start with lightning, but it is responsible for 80% to 90% of land burned, since these areas are often remote and difficult for firefighters to reach.

Three major components of wildfire spread are fuel, ignition and weather, Sarah BurchW., Professor of Climate Change at the University of Waterloo Executive Director of the Waterloo Climate Institutefor CNBC.

“While wildfires are a natural feature of healthy ecosystems, climate change affects all three factors” that cause wildfires, Burch told CNBC. as well as land management. For example, file Mountain pine beetle kills trees And turn it into fuel for wildfires, Burch told CNBC. Long periods of drought also make forests more flammable.

“This means that we expect the frequency and severity of fires to increase in the future,” Burch told CNBC.

People will have to learn to live alongside those wildfires.

“This is a common misconception people have that fire management can stop all fires all the time. That’s clearly not true,” Flanigan said.

If firefighters arrive and the fire is still small, they can put it out. But sometimes a fire can turn into a very intense fire in less than 15 minutes. When a wildfire becomes a “crown fire,” meaning it jumps from treetop to treetop, “the horse left the barn,” Flanigan told CNBC. “It’s too late. You missed your window.”

Some fire mitigation techniques can work to slow the back end of a fire that’s already blazing at full intensity, but when “that head is racing across the landscape, you just have to get out of the way.”

This means more smoke from wildfires is being transported to other parts of the globe as well. Earlier in July, wildfire smoke from Canada blanketed much of the west and east coast of the United States.

There is no silver bullet to solve this problem, says Flanigan. Drones and artificial intelligence can help scientists track and monitor the movement of fires, but they are tools, not solutions. The only long-term solution is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions on a global scale to mitigate the effects of climate change.

“I think there’s still time if we do our work together as a global community to deal with this. And sometimes people need a nose or two before we change our behavior. We can change. And I hope we get our bloody noses out and now we’re going to do something about fossil fuels.”