From this past weekend's Washington Post: "How climate change may be fueling Canada’s fire season". A devastating wildfire continues to rage around Fort McMurray in Alberta, Canada, having grown to more than ten times its original size and forced tens of thousands of people to flee their homes. Now, as firefighters struggle to contain the flames, some experts are saying that the blaze was likely helped along by factors related to climate change — which may also be contributing to a bigger trend in lengthier, more intense Northern fire seasons. Around the same time the Fort McMurray fire sprang up (it arose Sunday from unknown causes), researchers from the Rutgers University Global Snow Lab released some alarming findings. According to satellite data, last month saw the lowest area of snow cover in the northern hemisphere of any April in the past 50 years, at just over 27.9 million square kilometers of coverage. The previous record-holder was April of 1968, with 28 million square kilometers. While all the factors that played into the low snow extent remain to be explored, the findings generally suggest that this year’s mild winter caused snow to melt faster and earlier than in previous years, said David Robinson, the New Jersey state climatologist, who helps run the Rutgers Global Snow Lab. And some scientists, including Robinson, have suggested that the low snow extent could make for a dryer, more severe fire season in the north (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/05/06/how-climate-change-may-be-fueling-canadas-fire-season/ )

1. MASSIVE MCMURRAY WILDFIRE:
AN UNCONTAINED MONSTER IN CANADA
MAY 1ST - ???

2. ON MAY 1, 2016, A WILDFIRE, WHOSE
ORIGIN IS STILL UNKNOWN, BEGAN
SOUTHWEST OF FORT MCMURAY,
ALBERTA, CANADA

5. EXPLOSIVE IMPACTS
•By May 3[, it had swept through the Fort
McMurray community, destroying more
than 1,600 homes and buildings with
losses estimated at $7 billion USD.

6. MASSIVE EVACUATIONS
•By May 6, approximately 90,000 had
evacuated by car and air to Edmonton and
other cities, the largest evacuation in
Alberta's history.

8. EXPLOSIVE GROWTH IN SIZE
•By May 7, the monster wildfire had grown
as a result of favorable weather conditions,
to the size of Hong Kong and almost 25%
bigger than New York City - - -

9. EXPLOSIVE GROWTH IN SIZE
•- - - in spite of the efforts of
500 firefighters, 15 helicopters
and 14 air tankers.

10. ---BUT WITH NO
CASUALTIES, YET.

11. REMEMBERING:
ANOTHER TIME…..
ANOTHER WILDFIRE
REMEMBERING

12. WILDFIRES IMPACT WASHINGTON STATE AND
CANADIAN COMMUNITIES
JULY 16-?, 2014

13. THE CARLTON COMPLEX FIRE, A
MASSIVE, LIGHTNING-CAUSED WILDFIRE
IN WASHINGTON STATE, IS STILL OUT OF
CONTROL, BURNING HOUSES, AND
FORCING RESIDENTS OF WASHINGTON
STATE AND CANADA TO EVACUATE.

14. WASHINGTON STATE WILDFIRES

15. THE SITUATION
•Gov. Jay Inslee said about 50 fires were burning in
Washington, which has been wracked by hot, dry
weather, gusting winds and lightning.
•Some 2,000 firefighters were working in the eastern
part of the state, with about a dozen helicopters
from the Department of Natural Resources and the
National Guard.

16. THE CARLTON COMPLEX WILDFIRE

17. THE CARLTON COMPLEX WILDFIRE

18. FIGHTING THE CARLTON
COMPLEX WILDFIRE