Wildfires and Climate Change Pt 3
I’m Bob Larson. The September wildfires that blazed across millions of acres in Washington and Oregon were not a result of climate change. That’s the opinion of University of Washington Atmospheric Sciences professor Cliff Mass who says just because he doesn’t think global warming caused the fires, doesn’t mean he’s a “climate denier” …
MASS … “I mean, no one is saying the global warming isn’t occurring or won’t happen. No one is saying that, you know? So, this is not about being a “denier,” I’ve already gotten accused of that, you know. I mean, it’s just ridiculous, this name calling. I hate that term anyway.”
Mass says that aside …
MASS … “In any case, this has nothing to do with denying climate change. It’s just that not every extreme event is associated with climate change. It’s not. In fact, some extreme events will become less extreme under climate change.”
But the winds, Mass says were the crucial thing here …
MASS … “I mean, that’s the center of this event. If we didn’t have this strong wind event, this would have gone down as one of the most benign fire years in recent history. I mean, that’s what we were going into is a very benign year. But it was the strong winds, the timing was perfect, late season, it had the whole summer to dry out. It was perfect.”
Mass says if you actually look at the real numbers objectively, there’s really very little reason to pin this year’s wildfires on global warming.
To find Cliff’s blog on wildfires, global warming and so much more, go to …
https://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2020/09/did-global-warming-play-significant.html?fbclid=IwAR078vCUPXaD7CYVeBr7hX9HYV-a-LdlZXUnjdqaIbljMRZ1ivIn2bkzeW0
