Drivers and Impacts of the Record-Breaking 2023 Wildfire Season in Canada
Canadian Forest Service · Natural Resources Canada · +3 more institutions
Abstract
The 2023 wildfire season in Canada was unprecedented in its scale and intensity, spanning from mid-April to late October and across much of the forested regions of Canada. Here, we summarize the main causes and impacts of this exceptional season. The record-breaking total area burned (~15 Mha) can be attributed to several environmental factors that converged early in the season: early snowmelt, multiannual drought conditions in western Canada, and the rapid transition to drought in eastern Canada. Anthropogenic climate change enabled sustained extreme fire weather conditions, as the mean May-October temperature over Canada in 2023 was 2.2 °C warmer than the 1991-2020 average. The impacts were profound with…
Citation impact
- FWCI
- 62.34
- Percentile
- 100%
- References
- 83
Authors
18- PJPiyush JainCorresponding
Canadian Forest Service, Natural Resources Canada
- QEQuinn E. Barber
Canadian Forest Service, Natural Resources Canada
- STStephen Taylor
Canadian Forest Service, Natural Resources Canada
- EWEllen Whitman
Canadian Forest Service, Natural Resources Canada
- DCDante Castellanos Acuna
University of Alberta, Thompson Rivers University
Topics & keywords
- Climate change
- Environmental science
- Snowmelt
- Growing season
- Geography
- Ecology
- Snow
- Meteorology
- Climate action