The scorching, dry and wind-driven conditions that fuelled last month’s devastating wildfires across Chile and Argentina were made around three times more likely by human-caused climate change, according to a rapid attribution analysis by the World Weather Attribution (WWA) group.
Throughout January, fires swept across multiple regions of South America, killing 23 people in Chile, displacing thousands, and destroying vast stretches of native forests and grasslands in both countries.
Researchers found that the extreme combination of heat, dryness and strong winds—conditions classified as “high fire danger”—now occurs roughly once every five years. In a world without human-induced warming, such conditions would have been significantly rarer.
The study also highlights a critical shift in rainfall patterns. During the fire season, precipitation in the affected areas is now 20–25% lower than it would be without human-driven emissions, intensifying landscape dryness and increasing wildfire risk.
The findings reinforce a growing scientific consensus: climate change is not merely amplifying disasters—it is reshaping the baseline conditions that make them more frequent and more destructive. Read More
News Credit: Carbon Brief
Picture Credit: Associated Press/ Alamy Stock Photo