California Fires
Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2018 11:26 amI know that Beth prefers to keep "politics" off this board, but the comments made by a "prominent politician" (I'll leave it at that - if you want more information, do a Google search) regarding the cause of the current California wildfires deserves, I think, a brief comment. I hope that Beth will let this post stand, as it includes, I think, important information.
What most people likely do not understand (particularly those who live in parts of the US currently enduring massive amounts of rainfall, with concurrent flooding) is that California has what is generally referred to as a "Mediterranean climate".
In addition to the past several years of moderate to severe drought, Northern California generally only receives rain these days from late October to early November, with the rains ending mid to late March.
Four or five months of "rainy season". Thus seven or eight months of "dry season".
I have lived in this area for around forty (40) years, when I first moved here the first frost (and the first rains) came in mid-September, rains ended mid to late April. These days (and for the last few years), the first frost and first rains don't come until the end of October to early November, and generally end mid to late March.
Leaving politics out of it, this is, obviously, some kind of "change", that I have personally experienced over the forty (40) years I have lived in this area of California. Again, leaving politics out of it, what kind of "change" this might be I leave to your Google searching.
So, if California has four or five months of rainy season, this leaves seven or eight months of "dry season" - which maybe doesn't sound so bad. However, with the seven or eight months of no rain, add to this equation the fact that temperatures can be - and very often are - extremely hot, you get extreme drying of vegetation.
And by "extremely hot" I mean average temperatures of above 100 (one-hundred) degrees, for weeks on end. This summer, so far, the highest temperature at my house (I keep a thermometer in an outside location where it is always in the shade, and never in the sun) was as high as 112 (one hundred twelve) degrees. This temp continued at around 110 (one hundred ten) degrees for several days (again, temps have remained at or near 100 degrees here for weeks on end).
I was in the foothills near where I live last week. Walking through a pasture that in the past generally stayed green all summer, the grass is now dead, brown and sere. Walking through this dead pasture grass, each step made an audible "crunch".
In conditions this dry, even a spark from, maybe, a dragging chain behind a vehicle throwing up sparks as the vehicle goes down the road can initiate a major conflagration (the current Carr Fire, the second largest fire now burning, was caused by a flat tire on a trailer, when the trailer rim sent sparks into vegetation at the side of the road).
Even walking through a pasture, and maybe accidentally kicking a rock, with it maybe hitting another rock nearby, thus causing a brief spark, could potentially result in this same outcome.
Let me tell you, I was freaked out on my walk, fearing just this kind of accidental outcome. I couldn't wait to get back to my car.
In view of the above, again my own personal observation and experience, please do your own research regarding the cause of the current, and terrible, wildfires ongoing in California. Don't take a politician's word for it, even the word from a "prominent politician".
Do your own research. Talk to the people who are living it.
A final note:
Over my 40 (forty) years of residence here, always - always - the worst wildfires have always come in October, at the end of the dry season, just before the rains came. In many instances, these October fires were met with the first of the rains, which helped to quench these fires.
Ladies, it is only August, and California is in the midst of perhaps it's worst fire season in history.
In August, of course, in California, there is no rain in sight.
And October is yet to come.
Anne
What most people likely do not understand (particularly those who live in parts of the US currently enduring massive amounts of rainfall, with concurrent flooding) is that California has what is generally referred to as a "Mediterranean climate".
In addition to the past several years of moderate to severe drought, Northern California generally only receives rain these days from late October to early November, with the rains ending mid to late March.
Four or five months of "rainy season". Thus seven or eight months of "dry season".
I have lived in this area for around forty (40) years, when I first moved here the first frost (and the first rains) came in mid-September, rains ended mid to late April. These days (and for the last few years), the first frost and first rains don't come until the end of October to early November, and generally end mid to late March.
Leaving politics out of it, this is, obviously, some kind of "change", that I have personally experienced over the forty (40) years I have lived in this area of California. Again, leaving politics out of it, what kind of "change" this might be I leave to your Google searching.
So, if California has four or five months of rainy season, this leaves seven or eight months of "dry season" - which maybe doesn't sound so bad. However, with the seven or eight months of no rain, add to this equation the fact that temperatures can be - and very often are - extremely hot, you get extreme drying of vegetation.
And by "extremely hot" I mean average temperatures of above 100 (one-hundred) degrees, for weeks on end. This summer, so far, the highest temperature at my house (I keep a thermometer in an outside location where it is always in the shade, and never in the sun) was as high as 112 (one hundred twelve) degrees. This temp continued at around 110 (one hundred ten) degrees for several days (again, temps have remained at or near 100 degrees here for weeks on end).
I was in the foothills near where I live last week. Walking through a pasture that in the past generally stayed green all summer, the grass is now dead, brown and sere. Walking through this dead pasture grass, each step made an audible "crunch".
In conditions this dry, even a spark from, maybe, a dragging chain behind a vehicle throwing up sparks as the vehicle goes down the road can initiate a major conflagration (the current Carr Fire, the second largest fire now burning, was caused by a flat tire on a trailer, when the trailer rim sent sparks into vegetation at the side of the road).
Even walking through a pasture, and maybe accidentally kicking a rock, with it maybe hitting another rock nearby, thus causing a brief spark, could potentially result in this same outcome.
Let me tell you, I was freaked out on my walk, fearing just this kind of accidental outcome. I couldn't wait to get back to my car.
In view of the above, again my own personal observation and experience, please do your own research regarding the cause of the current, and terrible, wildfires ongoing in California. Don't take a politician's word for it, even the word from a "prominent politician".
Do your own research. Talk to the people who are living it.
A final note:
Over my 40 (forty) years of residence here, always - always - the worst wildfires have always come in October, at the end of the dry season, just before the rains came. In many instances, these October fires were met with the first of the rains, which helped to quench these fires.
Ladies, it is only August, and California is in the midst of perhaps it's worst fire season in history.
In August, of course, in California, there is no rain in sight.
And October is yet to come.
Anne
--Dr K
