Thursday Found That Human-caused Climate Change Doubled the Likelihood of the Extreme Fire Weather Conditions Behind Canada's Massive Summer

Researchers at World Weather Attribution, an international scientists' group, said the fire weather in Northwest Territories and northwestern Ontario was twice as likely due to global warming, though the climate fingerprint was less clear than in Spanish fires, which were 20 times more likely. The study, not yet peer-reviewed, compared current conditions to a pre-industrial world with 2.5 degrees Fahrenheit (1.4 degrees Celsius) less warming, finding that weeklong Ontario fire conditions now occur about every six years, versus once in a lifetime before. Scientists said Trump, who blamed Canada's forest management and threatened punishment, should consider U.S. emissions, noting the country's historical contribution to heat-trapping gases.

"President Trump is pointing at the smoke while ignoring America's fingerprints on the climate conditions behind it, said University of Victoria climate scientist Andrew Weaver. In the Northwest Territories, where over 5,000 square miles (12,950 square kilometers) burned, lightning sparked fires but climate conditions intensified them, said co-author Jonathan Boucher of Canada's Forest Service. "What we're facing here is more of a climate related problem than a forest management problem, Boucher said.

Trump said on July 21 that Canada wasn't managing forests properly, and on Sunday told reporters he had decided on punishment, adding "you'll find out about it soon. Study co-author Friederike Otto of Imperial College London said, "if you care about anyone but the super rich, you have to stop burning fossil fuels because the impacts are here and they're now and have huge consequences. Canada has warmed 65% more than the U.S. in recent decades.