The catastrophic wildfire season in the west has been called "the new normal?" But is it? And what could normal even mean when confronted by such extreme events. We asked three experts to weigh in on the science of wildfire. Natasha Stavros is a forest and wildfire ecologist who does research for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and weighs in on the many factors affecting western wildfires. Then Eric Kurth joins us from the National Weather Service's Sacramento office. They have the difficult task of forecasting fire weather and smoke conditions in the wake of massive fires from Yosemite to Redding. Finally, Dave turns to Blue Dot's Oceanographer/Climate expert emeritus Bill Patzert to give us all much needed big picture perspectives and a look at the difficult solutions needed to move forward in the wake of two straight years of disastrous California wildfires.
Blue Dot 111: Wildfires
