US wildfires are what global warming really looks like, scientists warn
6-30-12
"The Colorado fires are being driven by extreme temperatures, which are consistent with IPCC projections," reports the Guardian.
The Guardian reports: "Scorching heat, high winds and bone-dry conditions are fueling catastrophic wildfires in the US west that offer a preview of the kind of disasters that human-caused climate change could bring, a trio of scientists said on Thursday.
"What we're seeing is a window into what global warming really looks like," said Princeton University's Michael Oppenheimer, a lead author for the UN's climate science panel. "It looks like heat, it looks like fires, it looks like this kind of environmental disaster … This provides vivid images of what we can expect to see more of in the future.""
Dr. Steve Running, a forest ecologist and an expert for plaintiffs in the federal ATL lawsuit explained that a lighter winter snowpack set the stage for the Colorado fires. The two-week early snowmelt "sets us up for a longer, drier summer. Then all you need is an ignition source and wind," says Running. Warmer winters also allow the tree-killing pine beetles to overwinter and leaving behind dry wood in western forests.
"Now we have a lot of dead trees to burn … it's not even July yet," Running said, which means trying to stop such fires is akin to trying to stop a hurricane.
