Raging wildfire spreads to more areas in west Canada

A Canadian Joint Operations Command aerial photo shows wildfires in Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada in this May 4, 2016 image posted on social media. [Photo/Agencies]

Officials were still investigating the cause of the latest fire, being it lightning strike or human cause, but meteorologist said the wildfire has a clear link to climate change.

Canada's northern forests have been burning more frequently over recent decades as temperatures there are rising at twice the rate of the global average. A 2013 analysis showed that the boreal forests of Alaska and northern Canada are now burning at a rate unseen in at least the past 10,000 years.

The extreme weather of recent months is also closely linked with the ongoing record-setting El Nino conditions in the Pacific Ocean, which tends to bring a warmer and drier winter to this part of Canada.