Record pollution and heat heralding a season of climatic extremes

It's not officially summer yet in the Northern Hemisphere. But the extremes are already here.

Fires are burning across Canada, blanketing parts of the eastern United States in choking orange-colored smoke- gray. Puerto Rico is under a severe heat alert as are other parts of the world. Earth's oceans have been warming at an alarming rate.

Human-caused climate change is a driving force behind extremes like these. While there is no specific research yet attributing this week's events to global warming, the science is unequivocal that global warming dramatically increases the risk of severe wildfires and heat waves like the ones that are affecting most of North America today.

Scientists are also warning that before the end of the year, a global climate phenomenon known as the name of El Niño could arrive, potentially setting new heat records.

Taken together, the extremes of the week offer a clear conclusion: the richest continent in world is still not prepared for the vagaries of the not too distant future. A sign of that came on Wednesday when Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his government may soon create a disaster response agency to "ensure we do everything we can to plan ahead." , protect and act before other such events". coming."

Recent fires have also challenged the idea that some places are relatively immune to the worst hazards of climate change because they do not are not near the equator or they're far from the sea. Almost without warning, smoke from distant fires has upended daily life.

So many Smoke from wildfires crossed the border only in Buffalo, schools canceled outdoor activities. Detroit was choked by a toxic haze. Flights were grounded at northeast airports. p>

"Forest fires are no longer a problem just for people who live in fire-prone forest areas," said Alexandra Paige Fischer, a professor who studies fire fire adaptation at the University of Michigan.

In the United States, more and more people are already living with smoke from wildfires. A 2022 study by Stanford researchers found that the number of people exposed to toxic pollution from wildfires at least one day a year increased 27-fold between 2006 and 2020.

The two countries that experience these extremes, the United States and Canada, are major producers of oil and gas which, when burned, produce the greenhouse gases that significantly warmed the Earth's atmosphere. Average global temperatures are more than 1.1 degrees Celsius (2 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer today than during the pre-industrial era.

Park Williams, geologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, pointed out that eastern Canada and northern Alberta are actually expected to get wetter in coming years, according to climate models. But that was not the case this year. It was an exceptionally dry year for much of Canada. Then came the heat.

The boreal forests of western Canada offered ready fuel. The trees and grasses of eastern Canada have turned into tinder. "Under warmer temperatures, these dry years will cause things to dry out and become flammable faster than they otherwise would have," Dr Wiliams said.

By Wednesday, more than 400 fires were burning from west to east across Canada, more than half of which were out of control.

Others parts of the world have felt the burn this year. Vietnam broke a heat record in May, with temperatures exceeding 44 degrees Celsius, or 111 degrees Fahrenheit.

Record pollution and heat heralding a season of climatic extremes

It's not officially summer yet in the Northern Hemisphere. But the extremes are already here.

Fires are burning across Canada, blanketing parts of the eastern United States in choking orange-colored smoke- gray. Puerto Rico is under a severe heat alert as are other parts of the world. Earth's oceans have been warming at an alarming rate.

Human-caused climate change is a driving force behind extremes like these. While there is no specific research yet attributing this week's events to global warming, the science is unequivocal that global warming dramatically increases the risk of severe wildfires and heat waves like the ones that are affecting most of North America today.

Scientists are also warning that before the end of the year, a global climate phenomenon known as the name of El Niño could arrive, potentially setting new heat records.

Taken together, the extremes of the week offer a clear conclusion: the richest continent in world is still not prepared for the vagaries of the not too distant future. A sign of that came on Wednesday when Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his government may soon create a disaster response agency to "ensure we do everything we can to plan ahead." , protect and act before other such events". coming."

Recent fires have also challenged the idea that some places are relatively immune to the worst hazards of climate change because they do not are not near the equator or they're far from the sea. Almost without warning, smoke from distant fires has upended daily life.

So many Smoke from wildfires crossed the border only in Buffalo, schools canceled outdoor activities. Detroit was choked by a toxic haze. Flights were grounded at northeast airports. p>

"Forest fires are no longer a problem just for people who live in fire-prone forest areas," said Alexandra Paige Fischer, a professor who studies fire fire adaptation at the University of Michigan.

In the United States, more and more people are already living with smoke from wildfires. A 2022 study by Stanford researchers found that the number of people exposed to toxic pollution from wildfires at least one day a year increased 27-fold between 2006 and 2020.

The two countries that experience these extremes, the United States and Canada, are major producers of oil and gas which, when burned, produce the greenhouse gases that significantly warmed the Earth's atmosphere. Average global temperatures are more than 1.1 degrees Celsius (2 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer today than during the pre-industrial era.

Park Williams, geologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, pointed out that eastern Canada and northern Alberta are actually expected to get wetter in coming years, according to climate models. But that was not the case this year. It was an exceptionally dry year for much of Canada. Then came the heat.

The boreal forests of western Canada offered ready fuel. The trees and grasses of eastern Canada have turned into tinder. "Under warmer temperatures, these dry years will cause things to dry out and become flammable faster than they otherwise would have," Dr Wiliams said.

By Wednesday, more than 400 fires were burning from west to east across Canada, more than half of which were out of control.

Others parts of the world have felt the burn this year. Vietnam broke a heat record in May, with temperatures exceeding 44 degrees Celsius, or 111 degrees Fahrenheit.

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