Daniel Swain Research Featured in Scientific American: Climate Change Has Doubled Riskiest Fire Days in California

An analysis led by Stanford University found that temperatures rose about 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit statewide in California while precipitation dropped 30% since 1980. That doubled the number of autumn days—when fire risk is highest—with extreme conditions for the ignition of wildfires.  “That’s a really big increase over a relatively short period of time that can be attributed directly to the changes in climate,” said Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at UCLA and one of the study’s authors.