Lake Tahoe Fire Is A Sign Of Global Warming

Major wildfires are more frequent, and intense, due to climate change By Dan Shapley News Editor See Today's Update: Firefighters Deal With 'Disaster Tourists,' Have Fire 70% Contained Expect more fires like the raging inferno that consumed 250 homes and other buildings in Lake Tahoe as global warming sets the stage for more – and more intense – wildfires. What''s more, it''s already happening. Scientists have already tied increased frequency and intensity of wildfires to the changing climate, making the Lake Tahoe fire one of those events that demonstrates the consequences of runaway global warming. [Wednesday, firefighters worried that renewed winds would whip the Lake Tahoe fire into a new frenzy, as they did late Tuesday, forcing another round of evacuations.] In a scientific paper published a year ago co-authored by Tom Swetnam of the University of Arizona's Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, and Anthony Westerling, of the University of California-San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography, scientists found that the changing climate was a greater influence on wildfire activity and intensity than forest management. There were four times as many major wildfires between 1986 and 2004 as there were from 1970 to 1986, and a six-fold increase in the area of forest burned in the Western United States, they found. The active wildfire season has increased by more than two months, and individual fires are burning longer – up from barely a week on average to more than five. While forest management practices and past fire suppression helped this trend by providing plenty of dead and dying wood for fuel, the greater influence – according to the research – was the changing climate. As spring and summer temperature has increased, snowpacks in the mountains has melted earlier – between one week and one month earlier, on average, than 50 years ago. Since snow melt is responsible for 75% of annual stream flow, the decrease in snowpack drains regional streams and rivers, leading in turn to a drop in humidity. In the case of Lake Tahoe, its watershed hit May 1 with snowpack at just 15 percent of average. It still takes a spark to start a fire – whether it comes in the form of lightning, an illegal campfire or arson – but the warmer climate sets the stage. Your Photos Lake Tahoe wildfire photos submitted today by The Daily Green community to the Weird Weather Watch photoblog Angora Forest Fire, Lake Tahoe Tahoe Fire 3 Tahoe Fire 1 South Tahoe On Fire 2 Lake Tahoe Fire 4 Lake Tahoe Fire 3 Lake Tahoe Fire 2 Lake Tahoe Fire Smoke On The Ridgeline South Lake Tahoe on Fire Lake Tahoe Forest Fire Helicopter Response New photos are being submitted all the time. For more Weird Weather Watch photos, including photos of the Lake Tahoe fire, click here. To submit your own photo, click here. Related Stories Lake Tahoe Fire Cause: 'Human Activity' Southeast Drought Unrelenting Summer Forecast: Hot, With Wildfires World's Largest Lake Drying Up Western Governors Get Climate Warming Global Warming Threatens Israel Drought Plagues 1/3 of U.S. Georgia Swamp Fire Could Smolder For Months