Readers' best comments: Wildfires a harbinger of global warming
Letter to the editor:
Many people are concerned about global warming but assume that its predicted damages will come well enough in the future that there will be plenty of time to deal with it later. This mindset is naive and dangerous. Wildfires are a case in point. The startling increase in the frequency and intensity of wildfires is strongly linked to global warming. So far, average temperatures in the western U.S. have risen less than 2 degrees Fahrenheit, yet wildfires are occurring nearly four times more often, burning more than six times the land area, and lasting almost five times as long.
By mid-century, summertime temperatures are projected to be 3.6 to 9 degrees Fahrenheit higher, enhancing evaporation rates, while precipitation is expected to decrease by up to 15%. Warmer and drier conditions will lead to widespread beetle and other insect infestations, resulting in broad ranges of dead and highly combustible trees. The costs in human life and health, property damage and state and federal dollars are devastating and will only get worse. Unless we create the political will to phase out coal, oil and gas, and transition to clean energy sources, climate change will usher in a very bleak future.
Robert Taylor; Newport Beach, Calif.
California wildfires rage, force thousands to evacuate
Comments are edited for clarity and grammar:
As typical, the overly hyped exaggeration of weather reporters comes to the forefront. What is often forgotten is that Los Angeles has seen hundreds of hotter days. The “131-year record” was for the temperature on that date only. The rest of California is seeing beautiful weather of 70-85 degrees, which is less than many years when we have experienced 100-degree temperatures in July.
— Michael Conn
God bless and protect all the firefighters handling these wildfires!
— Jim Vandegriff
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