Smoke obscured Washington’s skies again on Wednesday, wafting in from wildfires raging across Canada. Further risks emerged uncomfortably close to D.C., after the National Weather Service on Tuesday declared a critical fire weather outlook for areas of Pennsylvania and New Jersey just north of the national capital region.
This year’s blazes are off the charts. More than 173,000 hectares (upward of 430,000 acres) have burned in Quebec’s “intensive protection fire zone,” relative to a 10-year average of 247 at this time of year, according to Canadian officials.
Washingtonians have suffered through wildfire haze from time to time, usually from western forests stricken with drought. But as the world warms, they should prepare for more code orange days, including potentially from fires closer to home.
An analysis from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration explains that rising temperatures will increase major storms and flooding in Maryland and the District in the coming years. But hotter weather will also dry out soil faster, leading to more intense droughts, too. Dry foliage combined with high heat and wind encourage wildfires.
While it often takes time to assess how much climate change contributed to a specific disaster, a national increase in wildfire activity is one of the most predictable effects of global warming. So is sea-level rise, which could be severe in areas around the D.C.-region.
The lesson is that, when natural systems are perturbed, the results can be severe. In the case of wildfires, that means more states and localities will have to consider adopting better forest management policies, drafting clear guidelines on when to close schools and other public services, and developing a bench of part-time firefighters ready to combat dangerous blazes. Wildfire risks will have to be assessed in places that had been too wet to think about such disasters.
And it means that ordinary citizens will have to get savvier about avoiding toxic particulate pollution with masks and air filtration — and being attentive to when they should stay indoors.
This will probably be one of many adjustments Americans have to make as global warming proceeds. In some ways, the haze could be making everyone see more clearly what lies ahead.
— The Washington Post
