Displaying items by tag: heat wave
ORNL researcher models fire’s growing footprint in a changing climate
Wild turkeys forage in charred hardwood forest soon after the 2016 Gatlinburg fires, which moved from the Smokies to developed areas in Sevier County. An ORNL model predicts wildfire threats will increase in the Southern Appalachians because of climate change. Thomas Fraser/Hellbender Press via Knoxville Mercury
ORNL report: Local wildfire danger will likely loom larger because of climate change
OAK RIDGE — This cruel summer, the Southern Appalachian region is already baking in above-normal temperatures and basking in poor air quality.
Air temperatures in Knoxville flirted with 100 degrees on July 6, which were well above average and prompted the National Weather Service to issue a heat advisory for much of the metropolitan area.
It’s hard to definitively link a heat wave to global warming, but one oft-cited consequence of climate change is the growing intensity of wildfires, even in the traditionally moisture-rich Appalachians. The range of climate change effects is difficult to pin down, but one constant in the study of climate change is an expected increase in overall temperatures, which can power wildfires via both fuel increases and volatility.
- oak ridge national laboratory
- wildfire
- wildfire risk
- climate change wildfire
- jaifu mao
- thanksgiving fire of 2016
- sevier county wildfire
- wears valley wildfire
- brush clearing for wildfire
- smokies wildfire mitigation
- smokies fire
- computational earth model system
- peter thornton
- southern appalachian bioregion
- southern appalachian climate change
- southeast wildfire risk
- heat wave
- global warming
- earth system model
- wildfire carbon emission
- ornl
Hot weather doesn’t always equal evidence of climate change, but the puzzle is almost complete
Thomas Fraser/Hellbender Press
TVA sets record power day for June as region swelters and common sense degrades
This story was originally published by Hard Knox Wire.
KNOXVILLE — City residents this week joined scores of others around the world — from the Southwest United States to the Indian subcontinent — sweltering through late spring with eyes toward a summer that portends to be very hot.
Whether directly attributed to climate change or not, the heat waves are causing untold misery in locations across the Northern Hemisphere, straining power grids to the brink and causing a sharp rise in heat-related illnesses.
Knoxville Utilities Board asked this week that consumers curtail their electricity use by setting their thermostats a little higher and holding off until night on energy-sucking tasks like doing laundry or running the dishwasher. That request was met in many cases with derision and unsubstantiated claims that charging electric vehicles had overburdened energy infrastructure.
So exactly how hot is it in East Tennessee and how bad is it going to get?