The wildfires in Canada are abnormally early and widespread this year. What’s at play?

In recent years, the word “wildfire” has conjured heartbreaking images that became grimly predictable: California ablaze, from its mighty forests to gracious vineyards and traffic-clogged highways of fleeing people.

It’s different this year, as the East Coast chokes on smoke blown south from abnormally early and widespread wildfires in Canada. Pennsylvania and New Jersey are now facing critical risks of fire danger, and more broadly the Northeast and Midwest also face elevated risks of wildfires, while California is at lower risk thanks to a record-high snow pack from this past winter.

What’s at play, climate scientists said, is an atmosphere increasingly roiled by conditions that can unpredictably shift areas of drought to deluge, as has happened in California, only to sow drought and excessive heat in another.

Continue reading on The Boston Globe.