It's happening before our eyes

Manitou Springs, an idyllic community in the mountains west of Colorado Springs, made news today as mudslides swept away cars. The area is experiencing flash flooding, a result of being located close to the burn zones of last year's Waldo Canyon and this year's Black Forest fires. What the headline didn't say is that this was a concrete result of global warming.

Each fire was a state record in destruction at the time it occurred. Each fire was a "megafire," the type of forest fire we have now become accustomed to seeing. Megafires are a result of the combination of fire suppression, which has provided dense, ample fuels, and climate change, which has produced hotter temperatures and drought.

Flash floods are a consequence of megafire burn zones. In ordinary wildland fires, where the cycle has not been disturbed by human intervention, fires rip through so quickly, and with such moderate strength, that many trees and shrubs are left standing. With megafires, an overabundance of fuels causes the fire to burn too hot to leave anything standing, in essence stripping the ground of all vegetation. Without any cover to speak of, these burn scars absorb little water, creating devastating flash floods. Rain will rip through the burn scar, and even a minimal amount will accumulate into forceful runoff.

Climate change + fire suppression = megafires = no groundcover = flash floods = mudslides.


Photo credit: http://ow.ly/mQVs0