Climate change and the American west

TomDispatch: Dire fire conditions, like the inferno of heat, turbulence, and fuel that recently turned 346 homes in Colorado Springs to ash, are now common in the West. A lethal combination of drought, insect plagues, windstorms, and legions of dead, dying, or stressed-out trees constitute what some pundits are calling wildfire's "perfect storm." They are only half right. This summer`s conditions may indeed be perfect for fire in the Southwest and West, but if you think of it as a "storm," perfect or otherwise...

URL: http://www.salon.com/2012/07/24/climate_change_and_the_american_west/
Enclosure: http://media.salon.com/2012/06/western-wildfires.jpeg64-460x307.jpg