Many climate models predict as the average annual temperature continues to rise, so will the intensity of wildfires and new research shows the smoke they produce to be equally dangerous, USA Today reported.

A new report from the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) stated that smoke from wildfires can cause respiratory problems in areas far beyond the state in which they occur. The report detailed how each state did in 2011.

"It affects a much wider area of the United States than people realize," says author Kim Knowlton, an NRDC senior scientist and Columbia University health professor.

The report detailed an increase by 50 times the amount of medium to high-density smoke that lingered nearly two weeks after the blaze was quelled. 212 million Americans (two-thirds the national population) lived in counties affected in some way by smoke from a wildfire. Knowlton also noted that smoke not only worsens asthma and other lung problems, but can also worsen heart conditions and other diseases.

"Our landscapes are becoming more of a tinderbox," she said.

The NRDC data stated Texas was affected most by lingering smoke. High-density smoked lingered in the state for at least a week and affected many of the state's 25 million residents. Even states with no wildfires reported, were hit hard. Illinois and eight other states were affected by drifting smoke from another state's fire.

In order from most to least affected, those nine states were Illinois, Florida, Missouri, Georgia, Louisiana, Michigan, Alabama, Oklahoma and Iowa. 22 states in total did not experience a wildfire.

"Heat waves are very likely to occur more frequently and last longer," Thomas Stocker, co-chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's Working Group 1.

He said the panel was created by the United Nations and that future models predict "currently wet regions receiving more rainfall, and dry regions receiving less."