2012 wildfire season could be one of the worst on record for western U.S.: report

The wildfire season in the western United States this year could potentially be one of the worst on record for the region, despite it not yet being over, one research group says.

The new Climate Central report, The Age of Western Wildfires, also suggests that the major impact of wildfires in 2012 will likely be normal in the near future.

As of August, 8.6 million acres were damaged, or more that 30% of an average year, the organization says.

Climate Central used 40 years of data from the U.S. Forest Service for 11 western states for its study, and found a “clear trend” of more and larger fires on Forest Service land.

According to the organization, when compared to the average year in the 1970s, in the past decade there were:

• Seven times more fires greater than 10,000 acres each year
• Amlost five times more fires larger than 25,000 acres each year
• Twice as many fires over 1,000 acres each year, with an average of more than 100 per year from 2002 through 2011, compared with less than 50 during the 1970s.

“On average, wildfires burn twice as much land area each year as they did 40 years ago,” Climate Central notes. It cites warmer spring and summer temperatures, with earlier snowmelt, as drivers for the increased wildfire damages. The full report is available on its website www.climatecentral.org.