The United States is facing a simultaneous onslaught of wildfires, floods, and smoke pollution, affecting multiple regions at once. According to the National Interagency Fire Center, 68 large wildfires are burning across 15 states, with 17 new fires ignited by lightning in the Pacific Northwest. Thick smoke has spread from the Great Lakes to Washington, D.C., while Texas’ Hill Country remains submerged under floodwaters for a third consecutive day. More than 17,400 firefighters, 140 helicopters, and four military C-130 air tankers have been deployed nationwide to combat the crises.

So far this year, about 3.72 million acres of forest have burned—over one million acres more than during the same period last year. Experts from several U.S. universities warn that overlapping disasters amplify overall damage. They link the extreme weather to abnormal jet stream patterns and human-driven climate change, which have tripled stagnant jet stream events since the 1950s.

Researchers also note that global warming intensifies both drought and heavy rainfall, creating conditions where wildfires and floods increasingly occur at the same time.