New research shows heat waves drive nearly half of summer wildfire acreage — here’s why. But high temperatures are looming — and new research puts numbers to the intuitive follow-on: with heat, comes fire. California has benefited from lucky weather conditions so far, despite a low snowpack and blistering March, according to John Abatzoglou, a professor of climatology at UC Merced. “It depends on what the weather brings us,” he said. “If it brings us hot, windy, red flag warning conditions, then that could certainly be a problem.