Fire and ice: California super-fires and warmer winters

Firestorm. That’s the word used to describe the uncontrollable wind-whipped fires in California this week. And while your local newscast will report on the flames, they’ll probably miss the reason these fires are so severe. Our increasingly extreme climate.

This week on MPR's Climate Cast I asked University of Alberta fire expert Mike Flannigan about the clear climate change link to this seemingly new breed of devastating super-fires

Also, it's not your imagination. Minnesota winters are not what they used to be. One of the strongest climate change signals is happening in winter. In fact, winter is the fastest warming season in America.

A new analysis of 700 weather stations across the U.S. shows winter is getting shorter, and warmer, in a hurry. I asked NOAA meteorologist Ken Kunkel when the trend of America’s shrinking winters began to show up in the data?

And how does less ice and snow affect our winter tourism industry? We asked Explore Minnesota Tourism director John Edman to follow the impact on Minnesota’s winter tourist dollar.