Forecasters are warning of a looming heat wave as 107 large wildfires rage in the United States, including the Dixie Fire, which has scorched 489,287 acres since mid-July, making it the second-largest single wildfire in California’s history.
The Golden State is under “widespread air quality alerts” with “scattered Red Flag Warnings” across the Northwest and Northern Rocky Mountains to parts of central California, the National Weather Service said on Sunday.
“It’s going to be a real oppressive week with dangerous heat and hot conditions across much of the U.S.,” the National Weather Service tweeted, noting that heat watches are up again for parts of the Pacific Northwest after experiencing a brutal heat wave at the start of July.
The Dixie Fire has been ablaze for 26 days and is active in northern parts of the state, including Butte, Lassen, and Tehama counties, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. At least 589 structures have been destroyed from the wildfire.
CALIFORNIA’S DIXIE FIRE BECOMES THIRD-LARGEST WILDFIRE IN STATE HISTORY
It’s going to be a real oppressive week with dangerous heat and hot conditions. Excessive heat watches are up across much of the Pacific Northwest. Meanwhile, heat advisories are in effect for a good part of the south-central U.S. and parts of western New York state. #heatsafety pic.twitter.com/2823gpKne8
— National Weather Service (@NWS) August 8, 2021
The 2020 August Complex wildfire remains the largest in the state’s history, as officials said it burned through over a million acres of land and destroyed 935 structures.
Cal Fire and the National Interagency Fire Center have warned that the low relative humidity and strong winds present a potential for more aggressive fire behavior.
“These winds caused active fire behavior on the Whitmore, Green Ridge, Black Butte, Thorne Creek, and Woods Creek fires. Extensive smoke continues to blanket California, although many wildfires were active in the late afternoon,” the NIFC wrote in a statement on Sunday.
The NIFC predicted that the warmer and dryer weather patterns could present more opportunities for fires to flourish leading out of the summer and into the fall. The agency added that there are 11 active fires in California, 25 in Montana, 16 in Idaho, and 13 in Oregon. There are 108 large fires or complexes burning in the U.S., the NIFC added.
On Saturday, Gov. Gavin Newsom visited the town of Greenville in Plumas County, which was largely destroyed by the Dixie Fire, thanking the 8,500 personnel who have worked 24 hours a day to keep the fires as contained as possible.
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The #DixieFire is now the largest single fire in CA history.
Greenville in Plumas County has been completely destroyed by this fire – not dissimilar to what we saw in Paradise.
There are 8,500 firefighter personnel out here – thank you for your heroic & extraordinary work. pic.twitter.com/pavsSV69V2
— Office of the Governor of California (@CAgovernor) August 8, 2021
The looming heat wave comes after the United Nations-sponsored Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a report on Monday detailing that the connection between human greenhouse gas emissions and global warming is “unequivocal,” noting that the past 50 years have seen the fastest temperature increases in at least 2,000 years.
