Fanned by strong winds and record temperatures, wildfires on the Greek island of Rhodes recently spread from the hilly interior to the densely populated coastline with astonishing speed, leaving authorities with the daunting task of evacuating thousands of residents and holidaymakers from harm’s way.
The role of climate change in heightening the risk of wildfires cannot be ignored. The world is, on average, 1.2°C warmer than in the pre-industrial climate, and this extra heat is bringing more frequent heatwaves and droughts. These weather conditions make the environment more fire-prone, and their increasing frequency has exposed already fire-susceptible regions such as the Mediterranean to greater risk of disaster.
Scientists use a fire weather index to estimate how flammable vegetation becomes under a set of weather conditions including temperature, humidity, wind speed and how recently rain fell. In the Mediterranean, the frequency of extreme values on this index has increased faster than virtually anywhere else on Earth since the late 20th century. As a result, the Mediterranean now faces 29 additional days of extreme fire weather a year.
