Yves here. To understand the potential future of the U.S., we should examine the severe and persistent wildfires currently affecting northern Thailand (Chiang Mai) and Laos. A report from the South China Morning Post over the past weekend sheds light on this crisis in ‘Worst I’ve seen’: forest fires rage across Thailand, Mekong region:
Forest fires raging across Laos, Myanmar, and Thailand have engulfed extensive areas in hazardous smoke. Firefighters are stretched thin as they battle flames, while communities suffocating in smog look skyward for rain and to their governments for solutions to a problem that intensifies yearly.
The dry season fires have resulted in a public health emergency in northern Thailand, particularly in Chiang Mai, as well as in much of Laos and eastern Myanmar. The dry brush creates an environment perfect for wildfires.
Some of these blazes can be attributed to farmers employing slash-and-burn techniques to clear land quickly and with minimal effort in preparation for planting season, especially in Laos and Myanmar, where regulations against this practice are poorly enforced.
The northern provinces of Chiang Rai, Chiang Mai, and Mae Hong Son in Thailand are currently engulfed in heavy clouds of pollution blowing in from Myanmar and Laos.
On Sunday, Thailand recorded more than 600 fire hotspots, predominantly in the north, with some extending down the western border adjacent to Myanmar. Hospitals across the nation have reported a rise in patients suffering from respiratory illnesses associated with elevated PM2.5 levels, the ultra-fine toxic particles present in polluted air.
“Everyone has the right to clean air. It’s a fundamental right,” remarked Maneerat Khemawong, a senator from Chiang Rai province, during a press briefing on Monday. “Air quality in the northern region has been critically poor, fluctuating between red and dark purple levels for over two months… indicating a yearly deterioration in conditions.” She was joined by fellow senators from the north urging the government to take more decisive action regarding worsening pollution.
“Hotspots have amassed to over 10,000 in neighboring countries, and this smoke drifts into Thailand,” she noted, referencing satellite data.
By Seth Borenstein, AP Science Writer. Cross-posted from Yale Climate Connections
Northern American wildfires are increasingly burning for extended periods. A new study reveals that these flames not only last longer into the night but also begin earlier in the morning due to climate change-induced hotter and drier conditions.
Previously, fires would diminish or even extinguish during the cooler nighttime temperatures and higher humidity. However, this natural cooling is occurring less frequently. The hours favorable for wildfires in North America have increased by 36% compared to 50 years ago, according to a recent study published in Science Advances.
Regions like California now experience an additional 550 hours of fire-prone conditions compared to the mid-1970s. Some areas in southwestern New Mexico and central Arizona face as many as 2,000 more hours a year conducive to wildfires, marking the largest increase identified in the study, which analyzed data from Canada and the United States. This research assessed periods when conditions were ripe for fire, but that doesn’t imply fires occurred during all these hours.
Recent Major Fires in LA and Hawaii Burned at Night
Wildfires that ignite at night are notoriously more challenging to combat. This includes the Lahaina fire in Hawaii in 2023, the Jasper fire in Alberta in 2024, and the Los Angeles fires in 2025. Notably, the fire in Maui ignited at 12:22 a.m.
The extension isn’t only temporal; the fire season is lengthening as well. Days characterized by fire-prone weather have surged by 44%, effectively adding an extra 26 days over the last fifty years.
Factors contributing to this include warmer, drier nighttime temperatures, as well as increased winds, according to the study’s authors.
“Fires traditionally slow down or stop during the night,” explained co-author Xianli Wang, a fire scientist with the Canadian Forest Service. “However, under severe fire hazard conditions, fires continue to burn through the night or for longer into the night.”
Wang also noted that the warming atmosphere is likely to exacerbate these conditions.
Navigating Fires at Night is Challenging
Fires that remain active at night have a head start the following day, making them even more difficult to contain, said fire scientist John Abatzoglou from the University of California, Merced, who did not participate in the study.
“Nights have become less reliable as a break from wildfires,” he stated in an email. “Broad warming and low humidity are keeping fires active at night.”
According to wildland firefighter Nicholai Allen, who founded a company focused on home fire prevention, nighttime firefighting poses unique challenges.
“You must deal with nocturnal wildlife, from snakes to bears and mountain lions—things that are typically less active during the day,” he described, pointing out that a colleague of his was bitten by a bear during a fire at night. “But at night, these animals tend to be scared, running away from the flames.”
The Canadian researchers examined nearly 9,000 significant fires from 2017 to 2023, employing weather satellites and other tools to collect hourly atmospheric data during these fires, including humidity, temperature, wind, rain, and moisture levels of fuel. They developed a computer model correlating weather conditions with fire status and applied it to historical data in Canada and the United States from 1975 to 2106.
Nights Are Warming Faster Than Days
Experts have noted that heat-trapping gases from burning fossil fuels cause nighttime temperatures to rise more rapidly than daytime temperatures. This occurs due to increased cloud cover that acts like a thermal blanket, retaining heat. Since 1975, summertime nighttime lows in the contiguous U.S. have warmed by 2.6 degrees Fahrenheit (1.4 degrees Celsius), while daytime highs have increased by 2.2 degrees Fahrenheit (1.2 degrees Celsius), as reported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Humidity at night no longer recovers from daytime dryness as it once did, explained the study’s lead author, Kaiwei Luo, a fire science researcher at the University of Alberta.
Wildfires frequently coincide with drought conditions, particularly extreme drought, which leads to not only drier air but also hotter, parched air. This results in the depletion of moisture from the soil and vegetation, making them more susceptible to combustion, Wang noted. A dry environment creates a vicious cycle, where an already dry atmosphere absorbs more moisture from fuels, enhancing their flammability.
Just as warmer nights hinder bodily recovery during heat waves, they also prevent forests from rejuvenating. Dead plant material can take weeks to regain moisture, reducing its flammability, according to Wang.
“This creates stress for the plants,” he said. “This, in turn, increases the available fuel load.”
Between 2016 and 2025, wildfires in the United States burned an area averaging the size of Massachusetts each year—over 11,000 square miles (28,500 square kilometers). This figure is 2.6 times larger than the average burn area during the 1980s, as stated by the National Interagency Fire Center. Meanwhile, Canada has seen an average burned area over the past decade that is 2.8 times greater than during the 1980s, according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre.
Syracuse University fire scientist Jacob Bendix, who wasn’t involved in this research, emphasized that this study serves as a stark reminder of climate change’s role in increasing fire risk across nearly all fire-prone regions of North America.
