The rivers of smoke pouring into the United States from Canadian wildfires have lowered temperatures by blocking sunlight from reaching the ground.
It may be the only positive aspect of Smokemageddon (or whatever the TV weather forecasters are calling this).
Imagine if the opposite happened and wildfires typically raised surface temperatures.
“It’s reassuring that there’s not going to be a positive feedback” from forest fires to smoke to more forest fires, Michael Fromm, a meteorologist for the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, told me on Thursday.
Fromm told me that wildfires haven’t yet been incorporated into the giant computer models that are used to forecast climate change.
Persons:
hasn’t, Michael Fromm, there’s, Fromm
Organizations:
Naval Research Laboratory
Locations:
United States, Washington