Rising temperatures, drought conditions helping fuel wildfires across the country

Historic wildfires devastated parts of Southern California in January, killing dozens and destroying thousands of buildings, including homes of Hollywood stars. While wildfires are nothing new, climate change is increasing wildfire risk across the country, from the West Coast to the Northeast.”The real control that we see most clearly so far is the role that global warming has on enhancing temperature,” said climate scientist and Dartmouth College professor Dr. Justin Mankin. Mankin said severe drought plays a significant role in creating conditions favorable for wildfires.”We’ve stopped flipping the warm versus cool coin. Every year, right, the temperature is warmer than the last,” Mankin said. “Your likelihood of getting a year that is hot and dry just markedly increases.”>> Download the free WMUR app to get updates on the go: Apple | Google Play <<Wildfires in the West differ in size and extent from those in the Northeast, but they can still happen and may be harder to contain when dry spells hit.”For the northeast, it seems like enhanced precipitation will tend to outpace the enhanced moisture demands from a growing atmospheric sponge. And that may mean, on balance, less drought risk to a place like New England,” Mankin said. “But when droughts do occur, they will happen with much more speed. We’ll slip into drought more quickly. And it may in some sense be more difficult to recover from drought.”In early December, all of New Hampshire was experiencing drought conditions, with the state under a rare late-season red flag warning and brush fires burning outside the typical fire season. “If you have one off month or season where you have below-average precipitation, it’s just going to be more easy to slip into drought in a warmer world than in a cooler one,” Mankin said.However, officials said there are steps that can reduce the risks of wildfires from breaking out.”I think injecting more resources into forest management and wildfire management is an important thing,” Mankin said.