June 22, 2012
Crews battling the Poco Fire near Young have been struggling with temperatures in the low- to mid-90s. Studies indicate the global warming trend will result in more and worse wildfires in the Southwest.
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Latest computerized climate models predict sharp rise in fires in southwest
This year’s frightening fire season in Rim Country may become the new normal, according to several recent attempts to predict how the ongoing warming trend will affect wildfire season in the Southwest. The most recent evidence involves a compilation of 16 different computerized climate models, which predicts a sharp rise in major wildfires in the American Southwest in the next 30 years, according to the study published in Ecosphere. The explosion in wildfires has driven the U.S. Forest Service’s budget for fighting fires to $1.5 billion annually.