The western United States is burning, and not just because of historic heat waves.
Wildfires raging in six western states have now overtaken 500 square miles of land, according to authorities. That's the same acreage footprint as the whole city of Los Angeles.
Four additional states are hard at work fighting smaller fires as 2021 shapes up to be the worst wildfire year on record. The devastation from the blazes is already ahead of where they were at this point last year, when 2020 set the all-time record.
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The uncommonly high temperatures have combined with minimal snow runoff and an overall lack of precipitation to dry out vegetation, which makes fires that much harder to fight and more likely to jump over barriers.
UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain told the Los Angeles Times that it has been a rough year for vegetation, with record levels of drought being recorded.
"All else equal, drier vegetation means more intense fires," Swain said, noting that "intensity" refers both to the heat of a fire and to its behavior.
In the last 12 months, Los Angeles has received just 41% of its usual rainfall. So far, more than 140,000 acres have been consumed by the raging infernos.
