UCAR president reflects on the Marshall Fire: Climate change is here; we must take action

By UCAR President Antonio Busalacchi

In the final days of 2021, a year already marked by weather and climate extremes that ravaged our country from coast to coast, one last weather disaster unfolded. A fire sparked in the parched grasslands of Boulder County, Colo., one week ago quickly turned into an uncontrolled inferno. Driven by wind gusts over 100 miles per hour, the Marshall Fire forced the evacuation of entire towns and burned hundreds of homes to the ground, likely becoming the most destructive fire in state history in a matter of hours.

During the course of 2021, scientists who study the Earth system at the Boulder, Colo.-based National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) — a federally funded research and development center managed by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR), where I serve as president — have watched catastrophes happen in their areas of research: a deadly deep freeze in Texas; an unprecedented heatwave in the Pacific Northwest; a landfalling hurricane in Louisiana; insatiable megafires across the West; and a streak of destructive December tornadoes. On Dec. 30, some of these same scientists fled their homes as they watched their community become ground zero for the last extreme weather and climate event of the year.

As an organization, we are pulling together to support one another. Many of our employees have been deeply impacted, and several have lost their homes. As we grieve and work to make sure our colleagues are cared for, I am compelled to make a point that has become painfully clear to those of us whose research is focused on weather, water, and climate within the Earth system; the impacts of human-caused climate change are here now, and they are being felt every day in communities like ours around the country and the world. We cannot delay action.?

The wildfire that engulfed whole neighborhoods in suburban Colorado burned against the backdrop of “extreme drought” as classified by the U.S Drought Monitor. After a very wet spring, precipitation in our region all but disappeared. The Denver area experienced its driest second half of a year on record, according to the National Weather Service. Denver also broke a record for longest streak of days without snow (235), and when the snow finally came on Dec. 10, it was just a wisp that quickly melted. The tinder-box conditions were rife for disaster when an ignition occurred.

While droughts and fires are not new to the West, we cannot ignore the role that climate change is playing in exacerbating these kinds of extremes across the country. We must use the actionable information that our Earth system scientists are giving us to inform comprehensive adaptation, mitigation, and resiliency programs. These efforts must include hardening our infrastructure, be it strengthening our coastal defenses against storm surge or burying power lines to avert devastating fires and lengthy storm-related power outages.

As we move forward to make our country more resilient, we must continue to support the critical research that will guide us. Robust funding must recognize that the Earth functions as a connected system and it must support a wide range of disciplines — from hydrology and atmospheric science to human dimensions research and engineering. As a climate scientist and a member of the National Academy of Engineering, I believe we need to break down research silos to provide society with the solutions to the problems we are facing today, not just in the future.

The research questions that can be answered from this holistic approach will inform real-world decisions that emergency managers are struggling with every day. Where will the next fire spread? How far inland will we experience flooding? How can we most effectively communicate the risks?

Congress had two big opportunities in 2021 to help support research that would answer such questions: the bipartisan Infrastructure and Jobs Act (IIJA), which was signed into law in November, and the Build Back Better legislative package, which has been languishing for months. Through months of debate, two things became clear. First, we need significant and sustained investments to reliably understand how climate change impacts our aging infrastructure, and second, we must ensure our adaptation and mitigation strategies are informed by that same understanding.?

As we begin a new year, let us not forget the lessons of 2021. We must come together to find lasting solutions to our climate crisis. I urge policymakers across all levels of government around the country to listen to the stories from their own backyards, take them seriously, and get to work making sure our country is protected from the threats we’ve already faced — and the ones we know are coming.?

Antonio Busalacchi is the president of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR), a nonprofit consortium of more than 120 colleges and universities with programs in Earth system science. UCAR manages the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), based in Boulder, on behalf of the National Science Foundation.