US Faces Triple Threat: Wildfire Smoke, Floods, and New Blazes Across 15 States
On Friday, millions of Americans faced hazardous conditions as three extreme weather events converged: wildfire smoke blanketed the eastern US from the Great Lakes to Washington, DC; floodwaters continued to tear through Texas's Hill Country for a third day; and new fires erupted in the Pacific Northwest overnight.
According to the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC), 68 large fires are now burning across 15 states, an increase of nearly two dozen from the previous day. Seventeen new blazes broke out in the Pacific Northwest following a series of lightning strikes, making it the most active fire region in the country.
More than 17,400 personnel, 140 helicopters, and four military C-130 air tanker crews are deployed nationwide to combat the wildfires. Record-low snowpack in the Mountain West and drought conditions have pushed fuel dryness to levels typically not seen until mid-August, the NIFC reported.
So far this year, nearly 3.72 million acres (1.51 million hectares) have burned, surpassing last year's mid-July tally by over 1 million acres.
Jesse Berman, a professor at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health whose research focuses on extreme weather and health, noted that simultaneous disasters can compound risks. 'These are compound events, and that can sometimes make the impacts of them far worse than what we would experience with any one of these events individually,' he said.
University of Pennsylvania climatologist Michael Mann linked the extreme weather to a wave pattern in the jet stream known as 'resonance,' where large waves become amplified and trapped, causing prolonged extreme weather. Mann said his research indicates that human-driven climate change has tripled the frequency of such stalled jet stream events since the 1950s.
In the eastern US, smoke from Canadian wildfires turned skies orange-brown from Minneapolis to Washington, pushing dangerous air quality to tens of millions in the Midwest, Northeast, and Mid-Atlantic. On Friday, Chicago's air quality ranked second-worst globally, according to Swiss firm IQAir. Local officials closed parks and beaches along Lake Michigan, cancelling or moving activities indoors.
About 4% of Chicago households lack air conditioning, according to the Civic Data Atlas, and temperatures were forecast to exceed 90°F (32°C) with heat index values up to 97°F, prompting the activation of community cooling centers. Detroit, Minneapolis, and Toronto had earlier ranked among the most polluted cities on Earth.
A heat dome over the Carolinas has funneled smoke from Minnesota and Canada into the populous eastern corridor. Rain expected over the weekend may begin to clear the air.
In Texas, the Hill Country endured a third day of catastrophic flash flooding, with over 27 inches (69 cm) of rain in some areas since Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service. Governor Greg Abbott confirmed two deaths: a 65-year-old man swept away in his RV near Comfort, and a 74-year-old man who drove into floodwaters in Uvalde County. Rescuers have pulled hundreds from rising water this week.
