KTLA

Study finds climate change to be main driver of increasing wildfire weather in U.S. West

Flames from the KNP Complex Fire burn along a hillside above the Kaweah River in Sequoia National Park, Calif., on Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2021. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

A new study adds to a growing body of evidence that climate change is fueling more frequent and intense wildfires in the western U.S.

The study’s researchers report that based on the rate that dry air sucks up moisture, climate change is essentially two-thirds to 88% responsible for the conditions driving the region’s wildfire woes.

And that’s a conservative estimate, said study author Rong Fu, a climate researcher at UCLA.

“It’s happened so much faster than we previously anticipated,” she added.

Read the full story on LATimes.com.