A professor at the University of California, Merced, says there's no clear link yet between global warming and the massive Southern California fires.

But Professor Anthony Westerling said there is a connection between global warming and fires in mid-elevation forests in such places as Alaska, Canada and the western United States.

He made the statement in a news release this week. The information was developed with academic colleagues Thomas Swetnam and Gregg Garfin of the University of Arizona. Westerling has studied the frequency of forest fires in the West.

He said, "At present, the connection between global warming, Santa Ana winds and extremely low Southern California precipitation last winter are not known with sufficient certainty to conclusively link global warming with this disaster.

“A possible connection between Southern California fires over the past decade, including the current fires, and climate change depends on the extent to which the ongoing drought in the greater Southwest may be related to climate change."

The fire is sending potentially dangerous plumes of smoke to the San Joaquin Valley.