---
attrs:
  .reference_type: 0
  Abstract: 'Western United States forest wildfire activity is widely thought to have increased in recent decades, yet neither the extent of recent changes nor the degree to which climate may be driving regional changes in wildfire has been systematically documented. Much of the public and scientific discussion of changes in western United States wildfire has focused instead on the effects of 19th- and 20th-century land-use history. We compiled a comprehensive database of large wildfires in western United States forests since 1970 and compared it with hydroclimatic and land-surface data. Here, we show that large wildfire activity increased suddenly and markedly in the mid-1980s, with higher large-wildfire frequency, longer wildfire durations, and longer wildfire seasons. The greatest increases occurred in mid-elevation, Northern Rockies forests, where land-use histories have relatively little effect on fire risks and are strongly associated with increased spring and summer temperatures and an earlier spring snowmelt.'
  Accession Number: '294, 458'
  Author: "Westerling, A.L.\rHidalgo, H.G.\rCayan, D.R.\rSwetnam, T.W."
  Author Address: 'Westerling, AL (reprint author), Univ Calif San Diego, Scripps Inst Oceanog, La Jolla, CA 92093 USA; Univ Calif San Diego, Scripps Inst Oceanog, La Jolla, CA 92093 USA; Univ Calif, Merced, CA 95344 USA; US Geol Survey, La Jolla, CA 92093 USA; Univ Arizona, Tree Ring Res Lab, Tucson, AZ 85721 USA'
  DOI: 10.1126/science.1128834
  Date: AUG 18 2006
  ISSN: 0036-8075
  Issue: 5789
  Journal: Science
  Keywords: PONDEROSA PINE FORESTS; UNITED-STATES; VEGETATION DISTRIBUTION; CLIMATE-CHANGE; FIRE REGIMES; VARIABILITY; PERSPECTIVE; ECOSYSTEMS; ENSO
  Language: English
  Pages: 940-943
  Title: Warming and earlier spring increase western U.S. forest wildfire activity
  Volume: 313
  Year: 2006
  _chapter: '["Ch. 20: Southwest FINAL","Ch. 9: Human Health FINAL","RG 9 Rural","Ch. 14: Rural Communities FINAL","Ch. 13: Land Use and Land Cover Change FINAL","RF 10","Ch. 8: Ecosystems FINAL","Overview","RG 5 Southwest","Appendix 3: Climate Science FINAL","Ch. 21: Northwest FINAL"]'
  _record_number: 3397
  _uuid: e1e1f3a0-9fea-4ad2-a3af-575716f9849e
  reftype: Journal Article
child_publication: /article/10.1126/science.1128834
description: Warming and earlier spring increase western U.S. forest wildfire activity
display_name: Warming and earlier spring increase western U.S. forest wildfire activity
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publications:
  - /report/nca3/chapter/human-health
  - /report/nca3/chapter/rural
  - /report/nca3/chapter/ecosystems
  - /report/nca3/chapter/northwest
  - /report/nca3/chapter/southwest
  - /report/nca3/chapter/appendix-climate-science-supplement
  - /report/nca3/chapter/land-use-land-cover-change
  - /report/nca3/chapter/ecosystems/finding/ecosystem-buffers-overwhelmed
  - /report/nca3/chapter/human-health/finding/climate-change-threatens-health
  - /report/nca3/chapter/land-use-land-cover-change/finding/land-use-choices-affect-resiliency
  - /report/nca3/chapter/rural/finding/climate-change-shifts-rural-economy
  - /report/nca3/chapter/southwest/finding/climate-change-increases-wildfires
  - /report/nca3
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