Climate Change Intensifies Eastern Mediterranean Wildfires

Athens, Aug 28 (AP) Climate change has intensified wildfires in Turkey, Greece, and Cyprus this summer, according to a study released Thursday by World Weather Attribution (WWA). Scorching temperatures and reduced rainfall have contributed to the ferocity of these fires.

The study highlighted that the wildfires, which claimed 20 lives, displaced 80,000 people, and scorched over 1 million hectares (2.47 million acres), were 22 percent more intense in 2025, marking Europe's most severe wildfire year on record.

The surge of wildfires in the eastern Mediterranean during June and July was fueled by temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius, extreme dryness, and strong winds.

WWA, a research group analyzing the linkage of extreme weather events to climate change, termed the findings as "concerning." Theodore Keeping from the Centre for Environmental Policy at Imperial College London noted, “Our study finds an extremely strong climate change signal towards hotter and drier conditions.”

“Currently, with 1.3 degrees Celsius of warming, we are witnessing unprecedented extremes in wildfire behavior that challenge firefighting capabilities. We are, however, on a path to warming up to 3 degrees Celsius this century unless there is a rapid transition from fossil fuels,” Keeping added.

The study observed a 14 percent reduction in winter rainfall preceding the wildfires since the pre-industrial era, when reliance on fossil fuels began. Climate change has made weeklong periods of dry, hot air—which predispose vegetation to ignite—13 times more likely.

An increase in high-pressure systems' intensity, enhancing the northerly Etesian winds that exacerbated the wildfires, was also identified.

Gavriil Xanthopoulos from the Institute of Mediterranean Forest Ecosystems in Greece remarked that firefighters once awaited a reduction in these winds to control fires. "It seems they can no longer rely on this pattern," Xanthopoulos stated. Further study is required to comprehend the more frequent occurrence of high-velocity wind patterns, he added.

Flavio Lehner, an assistant professor in Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Cornell University, not associated with the WWA research, affirmed that its summary aligns with existing studies and his understanding of climate change's influence on wildfire-conducive weather.

"Climate change is ‘loading the dice for more bad wildfire seasons’ in the Mediterranean," Lehner asserted. (AP) NPK NPK

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