False Stories in the New York Times and the Seattle Times on Western Washington Megafires

 The blog post by Cliff Mass addresses misleading claims made by the New York Times and the Seattle Times regarding the increase of "megafires" in Western Washington due to climate change.

• The article from the two newspapers asserts that megafires will become more frequent in Western Washington because of human-induced global warming.

• Cliff Mass disputes this claim, stating that his research shows there has only been one megafire in Western Washington since 1900—the Yacolt Fire of 1902.

• He emphasizes that there has not been an increase in the number or size of large fires in the last 50 years, challenging the notion that climate change correlates with a rise in such events.

• Large wildfires in the region require specific conditions, particularly strong easterly winds, which are not correlated with higher temperatures or less rainfall.

• Mass explains that climate change, contrary to the claims made in the articles, is expected to reduce the occurrence of these strong easterly winds, thus decreasing the likelihood of megafires.

• He supports his argument by citing detailed research he conducted, analyzing weather conditions associated with every large fire in Western Washington and Oregon over the last 150 years.

Cliff Mass argues that the claims made by the New York Times and Seattle Times about increasing megafires due to climate change are unfounded and potentially harmful because they misinform the public. He concludes that global warming will likely lessen the risk of megafires in Western Washington, not increase it, due to the changing wind patterns associated with climate change. He criticizes the journalistic standards that allowed for such misinformation to be published.

https://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2025/08/false-stories-in-new-york-times-and.html