Overview
- Researchers with World Weather Attribution warned Tuesday that the chance of extreme fires this year is highest in recent memory if a strong El Niño takes shape.
- Satellite data from the Global Wildfire Information System show more than 163 million hectares burned through early May, about 20% above the record since tracking began in 2012.
- Africa has burned about 85 million hectares, up 23% on its previous high, while Asia has roughly 44 million hectares, nearly 40% above 2014, with large losses in India, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, and China.
- Scientists tie the surge to a wet-to-dry swing in many regions where heavy rains grew thick grasses that later dried and fed fast-moving fires under heat and drought.
- El Niño, a periodic Pacific warming that can shift rain and boost heat in places like Australia, Canada, the United States, and the Amazon, is forecast to form from May and could raise fire risk as Europe reports early-season impacts including Tuscany evacuations and a firefighting pilot’s death in Poland.