President Obama recently stated that the record-breaking wildfires currently burning in Washington state have "a lot to do with…drought…changing precipitation patterns…and climate change." Sierra Rayne at the American Thinker then criticized Obama's connection to climate change, claiming that Washington has not seen a decline in annual precipitation or an increase in average temperatures.
It's ironic that Rayne, who failed to cite her sources, should then call on Obama to use "quantitative datasets that scientists can verify" when it is she who has failed to check the facts.
According to both theNational Climate Assessment and Washington's own Impacts Assessment (.pdf), temperatures have increased across the region by 1.5°F since 1920. Perhaps Rayne should also check out this article published in the American Meteorological Society journal about the unusual number of droughts in the Pacific Northwest, in part due to warm temperatures.
Warmer temperatures and dry conditions? The severity of Washington's wildfires may have something to do with drought and climate change after all.