The western U.S. has seen more and bigger wildfires over the last 30 years, a trend expected to continue as temperatures rise and droughts become more severe, according to a new study.
The study, accepted for publication in Geophysical Research Letters, which is published by the American Geophysical Union, examined the region from Nebraska to California from 1984 to 2011. Over that period, the number of wildfires over 1,000 acres in size increased by a rate of seven per year, the study says. Total acres burned increased by 90,000 over that time, and the largest wildfires grew by 350 acres per year.
The total area these fires burned increased at a rate of nearly 90,000 acres a year – an area the size of Las Vegas, according to the study. Individually, the largest wildfires grew at a rate of 350 acres a year, the new research says.
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