[bureaucrat]

Yeah, fire because of arson?

There were much bigger fires past due to lack of fire supplies. What's your point?

[breakyerself]

There is arson, but there isn't more arson today than in the past and the majority of fires were caused by lightning.

[opinologo]

These fires were predicted ten years ago and they were not caused by arson according to the authorities but due to extreme heat and dry conditions.

[SlipperySeaCow]

The fires are obviously much worse due to high temps

[throw_14JAS]

It's less obvious that the high temps are caused by climate change. Directionally, it makes sense -- but how much of the delta temp is variation?

[bureaucrat]

That could be your imagination. Australia's temperature is quite in the normal range, similar to that of 1960s.

https://weatherspark.com/h/y/149434/2020/Historical-Weather-...

https://weatherspark.com/h/y/149434/1960/Historical-Weather-...

[SlipperySeaCow]

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/australia-n...

Hottest year on record for Australia was 2019 (just ended).

Almost 3 degrees F over average.

High temperatures dry things out and make them easier to burn

[jozzas]

This is very, very wrong. If you want to cherry pick, I can too - literally days ago, western Sydney recorded its hottest ever temperature (48.9C, 120F). This is a region adjacent to where a number of fires are still burning.

2019 was Australia's hottest year on record.