| Title | American West Stuck in Cycle of ‘Heat, Drought and Fire’, Experts Warn | |
| Date | Sunday July 18 2021, @09:30PM | |
| Author | mrpg | |
| Topic | ||
| from the dept. | ||
American west stuck in cycle of 'heat, drought and fire', experts warn:
Firefighters are battling blazes from Arizona to Washington state that are burning with a worrying ferocity, while officials say California is already set to outpace last year's record-breaking fire season.
Extreme heatwaves over the past few weeks – which have smashed records everywhere from southern California to Nevada and Oregon – are causing the region's water reserves to evaporate at an alarming rate, said Jose Pablo Ortiz Partida, a climate scientist for the Union of Concerned Scientists, a non-profit advocacy group. And devoid of moisture, the landscape heats up quickly, like a hot plate, desiccating the landscape and turning vegetation into kindling.
"For our most vulnerable, disadvantaged communities, this also creates compounding health effects," Ortiz said. "First there's the heat. Then for many families their water supplies are affected. And then it's also the same heat and drought that are exacerbating wildfires and leading to smoky, unhealthy air quality."
In northern California, the largest wildfire to hit the state this year broke out over the weekend and has so far consumed more than 140 sq miles (362 sq km). The Beckwourth Complex grew so fast and with such intensity that it whipped up a rare fire tornado – a swirling vortex of smoke and fire.
| Links |
printed from SoylentNews, American West Stuck in Cycle of ‘Heat, Drought and Fire’, Experts Warn on 2024-04-23 23:05:38