Alaska's active fire season is expected to get worse
More than 530 wildfires have been reported in Alaska so far this fire season, burning an area the size of Connecticut, and the worst is likely to come.
One death has been linked to the fires; a pilot delivering equipment to firefighters died after his helicopter crashed. While not much property has been damaged, the smoke is causing extremely unhealthy air quality, with two fires in the southwestern part of the state sending smoke hundreds of miles north to Nome. "I would never have thought you could get that poor of air quality back 400 miles from the active fires, and that is a testament to how hot those fires were," Rick Thoman, a climate specialist with the Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Policy at the University of Alaska's International Arctic Research Center, told The Associated Press.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Wildfires in Alaska clean out low-lying debris, renew animal and plant habitats, and thin out trees, AP says, so when they are in unpopulated areas, officials typically let the fires burn themselves out. In the state, more than half of all wildfires are started by lightning strikes, and so far this year, that's how nearly every fire has been triggered.
Due to early snow melt and a lack of rain in June, the duff layer that blankets the floors of boreal forests and the tundra has dried out. "There's been a significant increase in the amount of fuel available, and that's from decades of warmer springs and summers in the region, direct result of a warming climate," Thoman told AP. "And, of course, fires with more fuels available burn hotter. They burn longer. They're more resistant to changes in weather." Read more at The Associated Press
-
‘No Other Choice,’ ‘Dead Man’s Wire,’ and ‘Father Mother Sister Brother’Feature A victim of downsizing turns murderous, an angry Indiana man takes a lender hostage, and a portrait of family by way of three awkward gatherings
-
Political cartoons for January 11Cartoons Sunday’s political cartoons include green energy, a simple plan, and more
-
The launch of the world’s first weight-loss pillSpeed Read Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly have been racing to release the first GLP-1 pill
-
How drones detected a deadly threat to Arctic whalesUnder the radar Monitoring the sea in the air
-
‘Jumping genes’: how polar bears are rewiring their DNA to survive the warming ArcticUnder the radar The species is adapting to warmer temperatures
-
Environment breakthroughs of 2025In Depth Progress was made this year on carbon dioxide tracking, food waste upcycling, sodium batteries, microplastic monitoring and green concrete
-
Crest falling: Mount Rainier and 4 other mountains are losing heightUnder the radar Its peak elevation is approximately 20 feet lower than it once was
-
Death toll from Southeast Asia storms tops 1,000speed read Catastrophic floods and landslides have struck Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia
-
Can for-profit geoengineering put a pause on climate change?In the Spotlight Stardust Solutions wants to dim the sun. Scientists are worried.
-
How will climate change affect the UK?The Explainer Met Office projections show the UK getting substantially warmer and wetter – with more extreme weather events
-
Can the UK do more on climate change?Today's Big Question Labour has shown leadership in the face of fraying international consensus, but must show the public their green mission is ‘a net benefit, not a net cost’
