Anthony came up with another weird post today, I know. Using a just released study that claims pine beetle killed forests aren't any more likely to burn than dry healthy forests, he rips Joe Romm for an article he wrote a couple years ago about drying forests, warmer temperatures, and even increased bark beetle infestations, conspiring to increase fire danger as we move forward, and then he tippy toes off stage to let his fans chew on the bones.
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"Ooops! Posited pine beetle to increased wildfire risk debunked by CU study"
Anthony Watts / March 24, 2015It has been posited by paid alarmists like Joe Romm that global warming will increase pine beetle outbreaks, thus increasing the chances of wildfire. For example, in April 2013 Romm wailed:
“…the mountain pine beetle, has already killed 70,000 square miles of trees — area the size of Washington state. As winters become milder, weather becomes drier and higher elevations become warmer, bark beetles are able to thrive and extend their ranges northward.
An increase in some species of bark beetle can actually increase the risk of forest fires in areas affected by the beetle — the study notes an outbreak of the mountain pine bark beetle, which attacks and kills live trees, created a “perfect storm” in 2006 in Washington, where affected lodgepole pines burned “with exceptionally high intensity.”
From the University of Colorado at Boulder:
______________________________"Western forests decimated by pine beetles not more likely to burn" (see the bottom for quotes from this study)
Anthony, nor is it any less likely to burn!
Bark beetle infestations are continuing to decimate healthy forests throughout the world.
Temperatures continue to increase.
Watersheds continue drying out.
Fire danger continues rising.
Anthony, how is that study supposed to change any of that? What's with the weird glee?
