According to a new research, recent decades have seen a rise in hot, dry evenings, which has resulted in midnight wildfires becoming more severe and frequent. Researchers discovered that every year in the United States West, there are 11 more flammable evenings than there were in 1979, a 45 percent rise over the previous four decades. With climate change, nighttime temperatures are predicted to rise, increasing the magnitude and pace of wildfires and forcing more firefighters to work around the clock.
According to a new research headed by the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences’ (CIRES) Earth Lab at the University of Colorado Boulder, nighttime fires have gotten more powerful and frequent in recent decades as hot, dry evenings have become more regular.
Cool, damp evenings gave comfort to firemen forty years ago, and “flammable nights” were uncommon. Nights are now rising faster than days as a result of climate change, and there are 11 more combustible nights per year in the United States West, a 45 percent increase, according to the researchers.
“Night is the most essential period for restraining a rushing fire — yet wildfire’s night brakes are failing,” Jennifer Balch, CIRES Fellow, Director of CIRES’ Earth Lab, and main author of the research published in Nature on Feb. 16, stated.
The new study relies on the Vapor Pressure Deficit, or VPD, as a fundamental indicator of the atmosphere’s thirst. When VPD is low, the air is chilly and damp, making fires unable to start. To put out fires, firefighting crews take advantage of the dark circumstances. When the VPD is high, however, the air is hot, dry, parched, and ready to burn.
In a first, the scientists used satellite observations and hourly climate data to determine the precise VPD tipping point, when it turns hot and dry enough to burn at night, for 81,000 worldwide fires. Across the previous 40 years, the researchers discovered an extra week of combustible nights in a quarter of the world’s burnable regions. And it climbed much more in the western United States: 11 nights, a 45 percent rise over four decades (1979-2020).
The scientists also evaluated fire progression hourly for tens of thousands of fire episodes using an unique remote sensing and modeling method. They also discovered that night fires had been 7.2 percent more severe worldwide between 2003 and 2020. That figure was substantially greater in the United States West: 28 percent.
In addition, Balch and her colleagues reported:
Between 1979 and 2020, the number of flammable overnight hours increased by 36%. Daytime flammable hours, on the other hand, “only” rose by 27%.
Evergreen and broadleaf woods, shrublands, and grasslands were all struck worse than others.
They also anticipate to find changes in fire emissions as a consequence of reduced intensity or smoldering burning, which is common at night.
“People are more aware of the situation during the day, when flames are most active. However, the evening, when colder circumstances tend to delay or even extinguish flames, receives little attention “Adam Mahood, a postdoctoral researcher at Earth Lab and one of the paper’s co-authors, agreed. And nighttime matters: during the last seven decades, human-caused climate change has warmed the night more than the day — and it’s just going to get worse from here, according to the researchers.
The Marshall Fire in Boulder County, Colorado, and the recent severe fires in December 2021 in central Kansas underscore the significance of better understanding the climate-related causes of wildfire.
“We anticipate to see more runaway flames that are more ferocious, quicker, and bigger if nighttime warming continues,” said Balch, an associate professor of geography at CU Boulder. “This means firemen don’t have the nighttime rests they used to enjoy; they have to combat fires 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”
