Climate change keeps making wildfires and smoke worse. Scientists call it the ‘new abnormal’

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Exposing the Big Game's avatarThe Extinction Chronicles

FILE - A jogger runs along McCovey Cove outside Oracle Park in San Francisco, under darkened skies from wildfire smoke on Sept. 9, 2020. As Earth's climate continues to change from heat-trapping gases spewed into the air, ever fewer people are out of reach from the billowing and deadly fingers of wildfire smoke, scientists say. (AP Photo/Tony Avelar, File)

FILE - The Statue of Liberty, covered in a haze-filled sky, is photographed from the Staten Island Ferry, June 7, 2023, in New York. As smoky as the summer has been so far, scientists say it will likely be worse in future years because of climate change. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura, File)

FILE - Haze is visible in New York City from the Empire State Building observatory, June 7, 2023, in New York. As smoky as the summer has been so far, scientists say it will likely be worse in future years because of climate change. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura, File)

FILE - People wear face masks as they walk outside in the smoke-filled air in Herald Square, June 7, 2023, in New York. As smoky as the summer has been so far, scientists say it will likely be worse in future years because of climate change. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura, File)

FILE - A man talks on his phone as he looks through the haze at the George Washington Bridge in Fort Lee, N.J., June 7, 2023. As smoky as the summer has been so far, scientists say it will likely be worse in future years because of climate change. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

FILE - People in kayaks paddle in McCovey Cove outside Oracle Park in San Francisco during a baseball game between the San Francisco Giants and the Seattle Mariners on Sept. 9, 2020. As Earth's climate continues to change from heat-trapping gases spewed into the air, ever fewer people are out of reach from the billowing and deadly fingers of wildfire smoke, scientists say. (AP Photo/Tony Avelar, File)

FILE - A person walks along the shore of Lake Michigan as the downtown skyline is blanketed in haze from Canadian wildfires, June 27, 2023, in Chicago. As smoky as the summer has been so far, scientists say it will likely be worse in future years because of climate change. (AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato, File)

FILE - People fish on the Susquehanna River amidst haze from Canadian wildfires, June 29, 2023, in Harrisburg, Pa. As smoky as the summer has been so far, scientists say it will likely be worse in future years because of climate change. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)

FILE - Haze from Canadian wildfires blankets the downtown Pittsburgh skyline as seen from Elliott, Pa., June 28, 2023. As smoky as the summer has been so far, scientists say it will likely be worse in future years because of climate change. (Benjamin B. Braun/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette via AP)/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette via AP)

FILE - A gull flies past two men as they watch the setting sun as smoke from wildfires fills the sky over the Ottawa River, June 29, 2023, in Ottawa, Ontario. As smoky as the summer has been so far, scientists say it will likely be worse in future years because of climate change. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press via AP, File)

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Canada Wildfires The New Abnormal

FILE – A jogger runs along McCovey Cove outside Oracle Park in San Francisco, under darkened skies from wildfire smoke on Sept. 9, 2020. As Earth’s climate continues to change from heat-trapping gases spewed into the air, ever fewer people are out of reach from the billowing and deadly fingers of wildfire smoke, scientists say. (AP Photo/Tony Avelar, File)

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BY SETH BORENSTEIN and MELINA WALLING

Fri, June 30, 2023 at 11:28 PM PDT·8 min read

It was a smell that invoked a memory. Both for Emily Kuchlbauer in North Carolina and Ryan Bomba in Chicago. It was smoke from wildfires, the odor of an increasingly hot and occasionally on-fire world.

Kuchlbauer had flashbacks to the surprise of soot coating her car three years ago when she was a recent college graduate in San Diego. Bomba had deja vu from San…

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