It was another bad year in the Arctic fire season, but now it’s nearly done

It was another above normal/active fire season in the Arctic (Alaska, Yukon and Northwest Territories). September typically marks the end as the Arctic starts to rapidly cool off.

The U.S. fire season, farther south, goes full into fall.

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The total area burned in 2024 was about double the 30 year average, but less than last year’s near-record season.

The vast majority of the Arctics fires are started by lightning but the conditions making wildfire seasons longer and more severe are undeniably being made worse due to climate change.

The Arctic in particular is sensitive to extreme heat. This was on display during the Arctic heatwave earlier in August, which pushed cool air into Minnesota at the time.

In the United States, there’s been a marked increase in ‘fire weather days’ defined as dry, hot, windy days that lead to increased fire danger.

A recent study in the Journal Nature made New York Times headlines: "In 2023, Canada’s wildfires released more planet-warming carbon than fossil-fuel emissions from all but three countries.”

Only the United States, China and India, the three biggest polluters, released more fossil fuels than the Canadian wildfires. Such runaway feedback loops could upend climate predictions with additional, unaccounted for carbon emissions.

Of course the big impact on increased fire in the west and in Canada is on air quality and visibility for Minnesota as our weather usually comes from either of those directions. 2023 was a record bad year in the U.S. for smoke pollution from wildfires. It was more than 6 times worse than the 2006 to 2019 average.

2024 brought its share of air quality alerts and hazy skies but nothing like 2023 fortunately. We should prepare for bad seasons to become more frequent however in the decades ahead.

BMTN Note: Weather events in isolation can't always be pinned on climate change, but the broader trend of increasingly severe weather and record-breaking extremes seen in Minnesota and across the globe can be attributed directly to the rapidly warming climate caused by human activity. The IPCC has warned that Earth is "firmly on track toward an unlivable world," and says greenhouse gas emissions must be halved by 2030 in order to limit warming to 1.5C, which would prevent the most catastrophic effects on humankind. You can read more here .