Citation

AghaKouchak A, Huning LS, Chiang F, Sadegh M, Vahedifard F, Mazdiyasni O, Moftakhari H, Mallakpour I. Nature 2018; 561(7724): 458-460.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1038/d41586-018-06783-6

PMID

30250152

Abstract

This has been an exceptional year so far for natural disasters. Typhoons in Asia and Hurricane Florence hitting the US east coast have caused extensive damage, flooding and mudslides. In the past two months, Scandinavia, Spain and Portugal, the United Kingdom, North America and South Africa experienced fierce forest blazes. Just outside Athens in July, one of the deadliest conflagrations in recorded history raged through coastal towns, killing 99 people. In the same month in Mendocino, California, an area larger than Los Angeles was scorched — more than 1,800 square kilometres — killing a firefighter and destroying almost 300 homes. Sweden suffered more than 50 wildfires, some even within the Arctic Circle.

The unprecedented severity of many of these fires might be a sign of global warming, with worse to come. But it also highlights how extreme events are connected. Many of the fires followed long periods of drought and record temperatures. Their occurrence also loads the dice for devastating future hazards.

Charred landscapes are more vulnerable to flooding and landslides. In January, a mudslide killed 21 people and injured more than 160 near Montecito, California. The month before, a wildfire had destroyed vegetation and destabilized the soil on the town’s steep slopes. When a storm brought heavy rains, a 5-metre-high wave of mud, boulders and branches, travelling at 30 kilometres per hour, swept into people’s homes.

Keywords: Wildland fires

Language: en

Keywords

Climate change; Environmental sciences; Hydrology; Policy