Publication: USA Today

UCLA Expert: Daniel Swain: Assistant Researcher and Climate Specialist, Institute of the Environment and Sustainability

Synopsis: While forest fires are a natural part of the ecosystem of Canada's boreal forests, the size, ferocity and number of fires this year is decidedly abnormal. Most of the country is expected to be under high to extreme risk for much of the wildfire season, which stretches from May to September.

UCLA News: “It has been record-breakingly hot and dry across much of central and western Canada and now in recent days across eastern Canada as well,” Swain commented. Conditions there are “highly anomalous.” Typically early to mid-spring would be the peak of seasonal dryness, with late spring and summer rains coming later and causing northern forests to "green up" and become less prone to fire. "So far this year that green up has been attenuated because it's so dry and so warm," he said. "This may be a year where there's more fire risk in the valleys than the mountain peaks throughout the West." 

Read more at USA Today.