Wildfire risk to worsen as warming climate increases lightning strikes, scientists warn

New study suggests thunderstorms could become more common by end of century, writes Peter Stubley

Smoke rises from a wildfire near Anchorage in Alaska during the 2019 heatwave (Getty)

Five years ago a Nasa-led team of scientists studying wildfires in Alaska made a thought-provoking discovery.

It had been a record-breaking year for fires in the region and there were increasing concerns that the climate crisis was making these outbreaks not only more common but also bigger and longer-lasting.

But what was triggering the fires in the first place? The scientists noted that most were not sparked by careless or malicious human activity but by a force of nature: lightning strikes.