How Bad Are the 2023 Wildfires? Chart Shows Dramatic Shift From Last Year

Data acquired by Newsweek showed a dramatic shift in the number of wildfires and acres burned when compared to last year.

On Wednesday, three wildfires on Maui grew out of control when winds from Hurricane Dora spurred the flames. Wildfires also have charred Canada and Europe this year, as well as the Southwest U.S., where an 80,000-acre wildfire spread across California and Nevada in early August. Another near Phoenix, Arizona, in June consumed nearly 2,000 acres and caused the evacuation of more than 1,000 residents.

However, data acquired by Newsweek showed that while wildfires are higher in number in 2023 than in 2022, fewer acres of land have been burned to date.

Several factors contributed to the change. A wet winter in California saturated dry soil, and meteorologists told Newsweek that the state's wildfire risk in the spring and early summer months was extremely low. However, the excessive rain also spurred a super bloom—prolific swaths of wildflowers and other small plants—for the first time since 2019, providing ample short-term fuel for any wildfires that sparked.

AccuWeather meteorologist Joseph Bauer told Newsweek that El Niño—the warm phase of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation climate pattern—has contributed to below-average sea surface temperatures off the southwestern coast of California. Precipitation, in turn, has been above average for the region.

"Things have been literally dampened and cooled in the region largely in part due to sea surface temperatures," Bauer said.

The conditions have led to a weakened wildfire season in Alaska where fires burned prolifically last year. The cool, wet spring has limited this year's wildfire season in Alaska, as well as the southwest, Bauer said.

The U.S. drought condition also improved over last year, particularly in the west, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor Map. In August 2022, 16.5 percent of California faced exceptional drought—the worst classification of drought by the U.S. Drought Monitor—and none of the state was free from drought.

The situation is much different in August 2023. Nearly 75 percent of the state is free from drought. There is no severe, extreme or exceptional drought. Approximately 25 percent of the state is facing "abnormally dry" conditions, with 7 percent of that area facing moderate drought.

Hawaii's drought conditions also have improved over last year. The worst of the drought is concentrated on the southwest side of Maui. The strength of the wildfires correlated with the drought map, with Lahaina being hit particularly hard by the raging flames.

Data from the National Interagency Fire Center showed that wildfires also are plaguing the Pacific Northwest this year. Oregon and Washington both faced worsened drought conditions over the last year. In Washington, the U.S. Drought Monitor Map showed that severe drought plagued roughly 19 percent of the state compared to zero evidence of severe drought last year. Oregon isn't battling drought as severe as it did in 2022, but the percentage of the state that is free from drought is lower than last year by 2 percent. Montana also has a smaller percentage of land free from drought compared to last year.

Climate experts have told Newsweek that climate change is anticipated to make weather events like hurricanes or wildfires more severe through increased ocean temperatures, heat waves and/or drought.

"We can expect the kinds of conditions experiencing now to continue to intensify in the future as global warming continues," Noah Diffenbaugh, a professor at Stanford's Doerr School of Sustainability, previously told Newsweek.