Climate

[Shirlv]

Anne, thought about you all day and decided the subject might be a long one so why not General. Seems there is horrific weather happening across the world. There doesn’t seem to be a solution at least in our little part of the world. Ask myself how I would live under serious weather conditions. I don’t have much choice considering my age and long made plans with family. Anne, do you see your self moving to another area. You have mentioned doing so in the past. Afraid I have never kept up with the weather in California so don’t if the drought and fires come and go or are they getting worse? It has to be a very stressful condition to life under. Hope you have a plan B

[Cudedog]

Thanks for asking, Shirl.

I have a lot to say on this topic, please let me gather my thoughts a bit and I will reply a bit later this evening.

Thank you.

Anne

[Cudedog]

Anne, do you see your self moving to another area. You have mentioned doing so in the past. Afraid I have never kept up with the weather in California so don’t if the drought and fires come and go or are they getting worse? It has to be a very stressful condition to life under. Hope you have a plan B

Hi Shirl.

Thank you very much for asking.

Before the pandemic hit, I was very seriously considering a move to Klamath Falls (Plan B!), Oregon. Lots of reasons - 4 seasons, much cooler summers, small town feel but still with big town stores and conveniences. I fell in love with the area - made two or three trips up there, I even made an offer on a house - but it all fell apart for reasons beyond my control.

Would I still like to get outta Dodge? Yes. But due to current circumstances I am coming to accept that this isn't likely to happen.

So, instead, I am working on "It's better to want what you have, than to have what you want". This works for me most of the time. . . not always, but most of the time. I am thankful.

And, yes, California drought and wildfire continue, and seem to be worsening (and this is true for most of the west, the problem now also creeping eastward into the midwest).

Drought and wildfires are just a fact of life in California. Severe drought has persisted here since at least 2017, and shows no sign of abating.

And, yes, it is very stressfull.

Our "wildfire season" used to be just over the summer months. Now there is the potential for wildfire year-round.

The fire that reduced the Sierra foothill town of Paradise to smoking rubble (85 people killed, eighteen-thousand home and businesses destroyed) happened in November of 2018, the worst wildfire in California history (a first!). There have been major wildfires each year since then. Last year there were 8,835 fires in the state, burning a total of 2,568,948 acres (that's in millions of acres).

This number includes the Dixie fire, which ignited in the foothills on the western slope of the Sierra not terribly from where I live on July 13, 2021 and was not "contained" until October 25, 2021, after it had burned across a portion of the entire Sierra Nevada mountain range, from the western foothills, across the Sierra crest, to the base of the eastern foothills.

This is the first time (another first for California!) in recorded history that this has ever happened.

Three small Sierra towns were either damaged or destroyed this time. I had heavy smoke, and often ash fall, here at my home for all of those three months the Dixie Fire burned.

All of the west is parched. If the predictions of the size and scope - and spread - of the continuing drought prove true, the drought issue will make the pandemic issue look like a cakewalk.

And that's just the short version.

Thanks for asking, Shirl. Appreciate it.

Anne