NYT: Earth’s Warming Primed France and Spain to Burn, Scientists Find – Gift Link

NY Times coverage of last week’s World Weather Attribution report confirming that climate change is driving severe wildfire conditions in France and Spain:

Conditions as hot, dry and windy as those leading up to the giant wildfires in France and Spain this week have become more likely in those countries since humans began warming the planet, according to a new analysis.

A team of scientists examined weather records to see how often the regions around Bordeaux, in southwest France, and Madrid have been as parched and primed to burn as they have been in the past few weeks. The researchers’ findings are the latest evidence that parts of Southern Europe should expect huge fires to become a recurring threat.

The report also references a study published last week in the journal Scientific Reports that found:

that in large parts of Mediterranean Europe, the number of extremely hot, dry and windy summer days more than doubled from 1981 to 2025.

Fire prevention and firefighting capabilities can’t keep up, the study concludes.

• NY Times story (gift link)
• World Weather Attribution: Climate change increases likelihood of compounding drivers of severe wildfire conditions in France and Spain
• Scientific Reports: Major intensification of fire weather across southern Europe in recent decades