Texas A&M climate expert Andrew Dessler says climate change is playing a big role in the Western fires, and Texas itself is getting much hotter.
Extreme heat waves and severe drought have been hammering the Western United States for weeks, and it’s a problem that was easily predicted, says a Texas A&M University climate expert.
Andrew Dessler, professor and the Reta Haynes Chair in Geosciences at Texas A&M, said the Western U.S. is getting pounded with a double whammy: some of the highest temperatures ever recorded in the region – as high as 118 degrees in some areas – and a drought that is reaching historic levels.
Add global warming and climate change to the mix, and it’s a recipe that scientists have seen coming for years. “Climate scientists have been predicting that, if we add a lot of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, we will see more intense heat waves, more intense precipitation events, rising sea levels, ocean acidification, and so on," Dessler said.
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