A record-tying heat wave helped spread a wildfire in Northern California's Shasta and Trinity counties in July 2018. Terray Sylvester/Getty ImagesWhen heat waves hit the Western United States, the risk of wildfires quickly rises. The prolonged heat dries out vegetation, but that’s only part of the cause – heat waves also play other roles in spreading wildfires.
In a new study, our team of fire and climate scientists looked at two decades of wildfire activity in the West, from 2001 to 2024, and for the first time quantified the effect of heat waves on those fires.
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