Global Wildfire Season Off to Worst Start Amid El Niño Threat
The year 2026 has seen an unprecedented start to the wildfire season, with over 150 million hectares (579,150 square miles) burned globally in the first four months, according to satellite data from the Global Wildfire Information System. This area is nearly double the seasonal average and equivalent to the size of Alaska. The surge in wildfires has overwhelmed firefighting efforts in countries such as Argentina, Chile, Japan, and the United States, while Southeast Asia has also experienced historic blazes. Scientists attribute this trend to a combination of human-driven climate change and the developing El Niño phenomenon, which is expected to amplify extreme weather events, including heatwaves, droughts, floods, and fires. Data from the University of Maine’s Climate Change Institute indicates record-low sea ice levels in the Northern Hemisphere and near-record-high ocean temperatures. Heat records have already been broken in regions like Australia, Greenland, France, and the U.S. Southwest, while Spain a... 
