According to scientists and federal and international reports, the wildfires scorching Southern California offer a glimpse of a warmer and more fiery future, according to the Associated Press.
In three different studies conducted in the past three months, warnings of larger wildfires due to man-made climate change is the main reason, the AP reported. The report states it's only going to get worse with more fires starting earlier in the year.
While scientists are reluctant to blame global warming for any specific fire, they have been warning for years about how it will lead to more fires and earlier fire seasons, according to the AP.
"The fires in California and here in Arizona are a clear example of what happens as the Earth warms, particularly as the West warms, and the warming caused by humans is making fire season longer and longer with each decade," said University of Arizona geoscientist Jonathan Overpeck, the AP reported."It's certainly an example of what we'll see more of in the future."
That was one of a dozen "key messages" in the 841-page National Climate Assessment released by the federal government earlier this month, according to the AP. It mentioned wildfires 200 times.
"Increased warming, drought and insect outbreaks, all caused by or linked to climate change have increased wildfires and impacts to people and ecosystems in the Southwest," the federal report said, the AP reported. "Fire models project more wildfire and increased risks to communities across extensive areas."
Likewise, the Nobel prize winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change noted in March that wildfires are on the rise in the western U.S., have killed 103 Americans in 30 years, and will likely get worse, according to the AP.
According to the reports, although the fires start for a variety of reasons, the California fires are fueled by three major ingredients: drought, heat and winds, the AP reported.
California and Arizona have had their hottest first four months of the year on record, according to National Weather Service records, according to the AP. Parts of Southern California broke records Thursday, racing past 100 degrees.
Another study last month in Geophysical Research Letters linked the ongoing drought to man-made climate change, but other scientists say that is not yet proven, the AP reported.
