As if record-setting floods in the Midwest and deadly tornadoes throughout the South and Midwest were not enough disaster for this country in the last couple of months, Arizona is now battling the second-largest blaze in the state’s history.
The blaze has burned 486 square miles of ponderosa pine forest, driven by wind gusts of more than 60 mph, since it was sparked May 29 by what authorities believe was an unattended campfire. Now more than twice the size of Chicago, the fire became the second-largest in Arizona history Tuesday. No serious injuries have been reported, but the fire has destroyed 10 structures so far. It has cast smoke as far east as Iowa and forced some planes to divert from Albuquerque, N.M., some 200 miles away.
Firefighters from as far away as New York are working day and night in attempt to slow the spread of flames. But residents and firefighters alike are understandably worried since a blaze of this size accompanied by winds of such a high speed could move the Wallow Fire to the number one spot in Arizona’s list of largest fires.
So what’s the deal with all of these wild, weather-related disasters?
According to Bill Patzert, a research scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, the cause it not solely global warming, but more “global weirding.”
“Sometimes it gets wild and weird,” says Patzert. In more technical terms, weather forecasters searching for a unifying explanation point to the La Niña climate pattern, a phenomenon born far out in the Pacific Ocean that shapes weather across the globe, in combination with other atmospheric anomalies that have altered the jet stream flow of air across North America. Less famous than its warm-water climate sibling El Niño, this year’s La Niña has been “near record-breaking” in its intensity, says climate scientist Michelle L’Heureux of the Climate Prediction Center in Camp Springs, Md.
La Niña conditions occur every few years and can persist as long as two years. With the tornadoes, flooding and fires that have already ravaged parts of the U.S., and hurricane season upon us, it is unfortunately shaping up to be an active, expensive and deadly La Niña season.