A new study finds that climate change has increased the number of fire weather days in our region.
Fire weather days occur when a combination of hot, dry and windy conditions linger for at least two hours in a given day. Since 1973, those days have risen significantly in many counties across the Mountain West.
Kaitlin Trudeau, is an applied climate scientist with Climate Central, said the fire season in many places is lasting longer and when fires do ignite, they are often more intense.
"There's some places that now see two more months of fire weather conditions each year, compared to the 70's. And that's two more additional months," Trudeau emphasized. "It's important to acknowledge that the fires we're seeing now are very, very different fires. They're much larger now, they burn faster, hotter, they're more destructive and they're much harder to get a handle on."
The increase in fire weather days is especially dramatic in Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico.
Much of Colorado and parts of Utah, Wyoming and Idaho also saw significant increases. Such days not only heighten the risk for wildfires, they can also trigger power shut-offs and unhealthy air quality.
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Northern Colorado, KANW in New Mexico, Colorado Public Radio, KJZZ in Arizona and NPR, with additional support from affiliate newsrooms across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Eric and Wendy Schmidt.
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