Like many states, California is facing a growing number of climate-related extremes: The annual acreage scorched by wildfires in the state increased fivefold between 1972 and 2018, and burns are also growing more intense. In addition, excessive rain is increasing flooding, landslides, and erosion, which can devastate terrain already reeling from fire damage. Large amounts of soil are prone to eroding after a wildfire, especially if heavy rainfall occurs within a year of the burn. Dow et al. studied 196 fires that occurred between 1984 and 2021 and found that postfire sediment erosion increased statewide during this period. They used a combination of postfire hillslope erosion modeling and measurements of debris flow volume from both real and modeled events.

Other wildfire/weather articles:

• University of Michigan news release: Grasslands live in the climate change fast lane
• Fox Weather: California fire threat forces warnings of potential power shutoffs
• San Francisco Chronicle: Dangerous California fire weather begins today. These areas will be most at risk