Will Wildfires Like These Become the New Normal?

Canada’s devastating fires and toxic smoke might not recur every year, but the heat from climate change increases the risks of a wide range of disasters.

No one can predict exactly when extreme weather and natural disasters will strike. But in many ways, this will become the new normal.We know many places on Earth will burn hotter and more ferociously than they have during any living person’s lifetime. Growing up, our children will have to be reminded that their world is different from the one we knew. The snow once fell each winter, we’ll say, and stuck around. The floods weren’t so frequent. It never burned like this.

Wildfire smoke experts said that it would have been difficult to foresee such dramatic impacts but that climate change is also reshaping natural hazards at a startling pace.

More From The New York Times (subscription required):

More From The New York Times (subscription required):

More From The Washington Post (subscription required):

More From NBCNews: