Climate Change Made Canada's Forests Much More Likely to Burn
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Author of the article:You can save this article by registering for freehere. Orsign-inif you have an account. The Brunswick Creek Wildfire from Boston Bar, British Columbia, in July. Photographer: James MacDonald/BloombergPhoto by James MacDonald/Bloomberg(Bloomberg) — The planet’s warming had a strong influence on destructive wildfires in Canada that have raged across Ontario and the Northwest Territories since late June, making the extreme fire weather that fueled them at least twice as likely, according to a report published Thursday by World Weather Attribution. Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Exclusive articles from Barbara Shecter, Joe O'Connor, Gabriel Friedman, and others. Daily content from Financial Times, the world's leading global business publication. Unlimited online access to read articles from Financial Post, National Post and 15 news sites across Canada with one account. 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Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one accountShare your thoughts and join the conversation in the commentsEnjoy additional articles per monthGet email updates from your favourite authorsSign In or Create an AccountorWith global temperatures roughly 1. 4C above pre-industrial levels, Canada is experiencing a notable rise in extremely hot and dry weather — the ingredient required to turn minor ignitions into infernos. Researchers found that the severe conditions behind the recent blazes in Ontario are now twice as probable as they would be in a world untouched by human-caused greenhouse gas emissions. The change is even more stark in the Northwest Territories: There, a week of fire weather as extreme as this year’s — which would occur once-a-decade without global warming — is now estimated to return every two years. Get the latest headlines, breaking news and columns. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Top Stories will soon be in your inbox. We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try againDoubling of the likelihood is “really bad,” said Friederike Otto, a professor in climate science at Imperial College London and a coauthor of the study. Given the immense challenge of containing wildfires, “even if just a little bit worse, it would mean that everything is even stretched further,” she said. The findings come as Canada endures another catastrophic burn season. More than 4,000 fires have been recorded nationwide so far this year, scorching a collective area roughly the size of Switzerland — a nearly 45% increase over the 30-year average spanning 1994 to 2023. Ontario and the Northwest Territories have been hit the hardest. Canada is part of a global pattern. Recent blazes across France, Spain, Portugal and Greece forced hundreds of thousands of people to evacuate, while earlier this year, fires in Chile and Argentina claimed at least 20 lives and devastated wide swaths of Patagonia. While wildfires play a natural role in forest renewal, the rising frequency and intensity of these outbreaks pose a huge threat. Blazes endanger communities and infrastructure, overwhelm local response capacity and send unhealthy smoke plumes across international borders. In recent weeks, Canadian smoke has drifted deep into the United States, turning skies over New York City a surreal orange and prompting President Donald Trump to threaten tariffs over the air pollution. As millions of acres of woodland burn, vast stores of carbon dioxide are released back into the atmosphere, accelerating warming. To quantify the effect of climate change on Canada’s wildfires, the study’s authors leveraged observation data and climate models to compare how the events would have unfolded in a world without warming. They also used an index that reflects how difficult it is to suppress a fire once ignition occurs and examined changes in rainfall, as drought can precede wildfires. “Our research is yet another piece of evidence for this shift being due to climate change,” said Theodore Keeping, a research associate at Imperial College London and another coauthor of the study. “The geographic spread of these fires is scary and shows that despite preparedness from wildfire governance, adaptation alone is not enough. ”Join the ConversationThis website uses cookies to personalize your content (including ads), and allows us to analyze our traffic. Read more aboutcookies here. By continuing to use our site, you agree to ourTerms of UseandPrivacy Policy.