Is Global Warming Fueling Forest Fires?

Climate models run by scientists have shown a clear drying trend in the subtropics, which includes the American Southwest, Mexico, the Mediterranean, Australia and parts of Asia, over the course of this century.

"If they get drier, the likelihood for fires will be higher," Brasseur said.

The hot, dry conditions that dominated the Southwest this summer were a small taste of what could become the prevailing conditions in the future, and they helped provide the fuel for the fires to start.

"When you have a hot summer and a dry summer, boom, you have a lot of fires," Brasseur told LiveScience.