Raging Eastern Wildfires Could Be Worse Than LA
AGU recently published a new research paper titled “Increasing Large Wildfires in the Eastern United States.” Its primary conclusion is that fires in the Eastern United States could be as dangerous as those in California. One challenge is that populations tend to be more concentrated in the East. Even smaller wildfires can be more destructive. The problem is called the wildland-urban interface (WUI).
The eastern wildfire threat is in the Eastern Temperate Forests, which run westward from the East Coast into eastern Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, and parts of Ontario, Quebec, and the Maritimes. These forests include some of America’s largest cities.
North And South Carolina Disaster
Currently, wildfires in North and South Carolina have burned almost 10,000 acres. The reasons the fires have spread so fast are nearly identical to those in California. The Forest Service said, “Fire behavior has continued to be intense, with rapid-fire spread and areas of extreme burning conditions due to shifting winds and dry weather during the day.”
The problem with wildfires is not unlike those with hurricanes or tornadoes. As climate changes increase the odds of weather events spreading, they are no longer dangerous only in the areas where they traditionally occur.
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