Wildfire Watch/ Drought Watch

124

Comments

  • hedonisthedonist standing on the edge of forever Posts: 24,524
    It was the best description at the time!

    What a mess out here this morning. Power went out during the night, cats were antsy, and so many areas hit with major damage - not to mention all of the car accidents.

    SO fucking glad it's Friday.
  • callencallen Posts: 6,388
    brianlux said:

    "weatherbear"? is that like a soggy teddy bear? haha!

    It took a while to get here but now were at 12 hours of steady rain. Just saw the news and the rain is supposed to ramp up a little more even for a while and continue into the AM. Fortunately, we have good drainage here.

    So is it making difference on drought? Get CA through another year? And snow pack?
    10-18-2000 Houston, 04-06-2003 Houston, 6-25-2003 Toronto, 10-8-2004 Kissimmee, 9-4-2005 Calgary, 12-3-05 Sao Paulo, 7-2-2006 Denver, 7-22-06 Gorge, 7-23-2006 Gorge, 9-13-2006 Bern, 6-22-2008 DC, 6-24-2008 MSG, 6-25-2008 MSG
  • brianluxbrianlux Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 40,592
    callen said:

    brianlux said:

    "weatherbear"? is that like a soggy teddy bear? haha!

    It took a while to get here but now were at 12 hours of steady rain. Just saw the news and the rain is supposed to ramp up a little more even for a while and continue into the AM. Fortunately, we have good drainage here.

    So is it making difference on drought? Get CA through another year? And snow pack?
    It's definitely helping, for sure, but to truly end the drought the state would need (on average) something like 20 more inches of rain this rain year.

    This was a relatively warm storm so snow levels were fairly high- around 6,000 feet but at higher elevations we did get good snow.

    The reservoirs are filling some which has been much needed but I'm not sure what the effect is on ground water has been. Ground water levels have drop so much in parts of California that in some places the land has sunk, particularly in the San Joaquin valley- as much as several inches per year. This has been going on for many years due to agricultural ground water extraction but even more so during this drought.

    Sorry to sound pessimistic, but one good storm isn't going to do it. We need 4 or 5 more times more rain than what we've gotten so far. But at least this year has been much better that the last few.

    “The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man [or woman] who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
    Variously credited to Mark Twain or Edward Abbey.













  • callencallen Posts: 6,388
    brianlux said:

    callen said:

    brianlux said:

    "weatherbear"? is that like a soggy teddy bear? haha!

    It took a while to get here but now were at 12 hours of steady rain. Just saw the news and the rain is supposed to ramp up a little more even for a while and continue into the AM. Fortunately, we have good drainage here.

    So is it making difference on drought? Get CA through another year? And snow pack?
    It's definitely helping, for sure, but to truly end the drought the state would need (on average) something like 20 more inches of rain this rain year.

    This was a relatively warm storm so snow levels were fairly high- around 6,000 feet but at higher elevations we did get good snow.

    The reservoirs are filling some which has been much needed but I'm not sure what the effect is on ground water has been. Ground water levels have drop so much in parts of California that in some places the land has sunk, particularly in the San Joaquin valley- as much as several inches per year. This has been going on for many years due to agricultural ground water extraction but even more so during this drought.

    Sorry to sound pessimistic, but one good storm isn't going to do it. We need 4 or 5 more times more rain than what we've gotten so far. But at least this year has been much better that the last few.

    We went through drought up to last year then it just started raining and we're pretty caught up. Hope same goes your way.
    10-18-2000 Houston, 04-06-2003 Houston, 6-25-2003 Toronto, 10-8-2004 Kissimmee, 9-4-2005 Calgary, 12-3-05 Sao Paulo, 7-2-2006 Denver, 7-22-06 Gorge, 7-23-2006 Gorge, 9-13-2006 Bern, 6-22-2008 DC, 6-24-2008 MSG, 6-25-2008 MSG
  • brianluxbrianlux Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 40,592
    callen said:

    brianlux said:

    callen said:

    brianlux said:

    "weatherbear"? is that like a soggy teddy bear? haha!

    It took a while to get here but now were at 12 hours of steady rain. Just saw the news and the rain is supposed to ramp up a little more even for a while and continue into the AM. Fortunately, we have good drainage here.

    So is it making difference on drought? Get CA through another year? And snow pack?
    It's definitely helping, for sure, but to truly end the drought the state would need (on average) something like 20 more inches of rain this rain year.

    This was a relatively warm storm so snow levels were fairly high- around 6,000 feet but at higher elevations we did get good snow.

    The reservoirs are filling some which has been much needed but I'm not sure what the effect is on ground water has been. Ground water levels have drop so much in parts of California that in some places the land has sunk, particularly in the San Joaquin valley- as much as several inches per year. This has been going on for many years due to agricultural ground water extraction but even more so during this drought.

    Sorry to sound pessimistic, but one good storm isn't going to do it. We need 4 or 5 more times more rain than what we've gotten so far. But at least this year has been much better that the last few.

    We went through drought up to last year then it just started raining and we're pretty caught up. Hope same goes your way.
    Glad to hear it. You've probably said before but, where 'bouts are you?

    “The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man [or woman] who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
    Variously credited to Mark Twain or Edward Abbey.













  • brianluxbrianlux Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 40,592
    Another drought first:

    Yosemite Lookout Opens At Earliest Date In History

    YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. (AP) — A road leading to spectacular views of California's Yosemite National Park opened to drivers on Saturday, marking the earliest date for the occasion in at least 20 years.

    Glacier Point Road takes drivers to a lookout perched at 3, 214 feet above the valley floor, where visitors can view spectacles such as the Half Dome rock, Yosemite Falls and Yosemite's high country. The road closes each winter blocked by snowfall, and last year the park reported an April 14 opening. In other years, the road remained closed until late-May.

    This year's March 28 opening is the earliest listed in records dating back to 1995 published on the park's website. California is struggling through its fourth consecutive year of drought, with a mountain snowpack at a fraction of normal.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/28/yosemite-lookout-opens_n_6961752.html?utm_hp_ref=green

    Coming home from Sac. book fair yesterday the Sierras looked like they usually do in late June/early July. Might be drinking something other than water this summer!
    “The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man [or woman] who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
    Variously credited to Mark Twain or Edward Abbey.













  • brianluxbrianlux Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 40,592
    We were down in Solano County today (north east bay area) and could see the plume of smoke from the latest Lake County fire named The Jerusalem Fire. It looked like and atomic bomb mushroom cloud. Total acres burned so far this year in California with only about 1/2 of the major portion of the fire season over stands at 6,224,545 acres. The average over the last 10 years for an entire year is 4,446,218 acres. Pretty freakin' unsettling.
    “The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man [or woman] who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
    Variously credited to Mark Twain or Edward Abbey.













  • brianluxbrianlux Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 40,592
    Got an email from YubaNet with these stats today:

    Greetings,

    96 uncontained large fires are currently burning, mostly in the Northwestern U.S.
    28,884 firefighters are assigned to the various incidents, with 8,962 in Northern
    California and 3,189 in Southern California. A total of 27,367 acres burned
    yesterday, bringing the acreage for 2015 to 7,163,248. The majority of the acreage
    burned was in Alaska, with 5,100,787 acres. California so far has 404,377 acres
    consumed by fire. As a reminder, peak fire season is in September...
    “The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man [or woman] who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
    Variously credited to Mark Twain or Edward Abbey.













  • Last-12-ExitLast-12-Exit Charleston, SC Posts: 8,661
    brianlux said:

    Got an email from YubaNet with these stats today:

    Greetings,

    96 uncontained large fires are currently burning, mostly in the Northwestern U.S.
    28,884 firefighters are assigned to the various incidents, with 8,962 in Northern
    California and 3,189 in Southern California. A total of 27,367 acres burned
    yesterday, bringing the acreage for 2015 to 7,163,248. The majority of the acreage
    burned was in Alaska, with 5,100,787 acres. California so far has 404,377 acres
    consumed by fire. As a reminder, peak fire season is in September...

    That is unreal. I heard yesterday that there was a total of 1,000,000 acres that are actively burning. Crazy.
  • hedonisthedonist standing on the edge of forever Posts: 24,524
    Three firefighters killed in Washington. Just horrible.
  • brianluxbrianlux Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 40,592
    Crazy bad fire year this year. We saw heavy blanketing banks of smoke this evening over the whole Sacramento Valley reaching up to our area. Never scene so much massive widespread smoke. Here's the satellite image from earlier today (and it got worse later as two more big fires south of here in San Luis Obispo and Alameda counties broke out- what was the clear spot in Central CA on the map).

    http://californiasmokeinfo.blogspot.com/

    “The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man [or woman] who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
    Variously credited to Mark Twain or Edward Abbey.













  • hedonist said:

    Three firefighters killed in Washington. Just horrible.

    We pass that way travelling to the Gorge every year to see DMB.

    We were there earlier with our team (Spokane... close enough) and all noted how dry the area was. A massive fire was inevitable.
    "My brain's a good brain!"
  • brianluxbrianlux Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 40,592
    Another big fire, Butte Fire, broke out yesterday just south of here, east of Jackson/ Hwy 49. It's at 4,000 acres and growing fast. The clouds of smoke have made everything here look orange. It's eerie as hell. I'm sorry I don't have a camera with me to take a photo.

    Total acreage burned so far this year in CA is 8,654,932.
    Annual average of acres burned yearly in CA is 5,879,894
    The worst of our fire season will last at least another month.
    “The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man [or woman] who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
    Variously credited to Mark Twain or Edward Abbey.













  • callencallen Posts: 6,388
    Come on El Niño.
    10-18-2000 Houston, 04-06-2003 Houston, 6-25-2003 Toronto, 10-8-2004 Kissimmee, 9-4-2005 Calgary, 12-3-05 Sao Paulo, 7-2-2006 Denver, 7-22-06 Gorge, 7-23-2006 Gorge, 9-13-2006 Bern, 6-22-2008 DC, 6-24-2008 MSG, 6-25-2008 MSG
  • brianluxbrianlux Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 40,592
    edited September 2015
    The Butte Fire is getting down right scary. Yesterday morning it was at 4,000 acres and 20% contained. By this morning it had jumped to 32,000+ acres and 10 % containment. As of about 10 minutes ago it was registered at 64,728 acres and down to 5% containment. Heading back up US 50 from Sacramento today I felt like I was driving toward the apocalypse. The cloud of smoke is an enormous, wide band of dark matter stretching the width of the Sierra range and as far as the eye can see north and south. The plume of smoke coming up from behind Jackson was the size of a large city. Absolutely insane.

    To give an idea of how big this thing is, the entire city of San Francisco is 31,360 acres.
    Post edited by brianlux on
    “The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man [or woman] who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
    Variously credited to Mark Twain or Edward Abbey.













  • hedonisthedonist standing on the edge of forever Posts: 24,524
    Holy shit, B. That size comparison is scary...almost incomprehensible.
  • brianluxbrianlux Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 40,592
    hedonist said:

    Holy shit, B. That size comparison is scary...almost incomprehensible.

    I thought so too and then Celia told me to check out the info of the Rough Fire down near Kings Canyon/Sequoia National Parks: 119,069 acres, 29% containment. That's 3.8 times the size of S.F.! image
    “The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man [or woman] who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
    Variously credited to Mark Twain or Edward Abbey.













  • rgambsrgambs Posts: 13,576
    What about the area around Truckee and Reno? We are headed there in a week or so.
    Monkey Driven, Call this Living?
  • brianluxbrianlux Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 40,592
    rgambs said:

    What about the area around Truckee and Reno? We are headed there in a week or so.

    Everything looks good that way right now. You can track CA fires on these sites:

    https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=zp8nK_5H0MFQ.kzTmU5XK-qJQ&ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&ll=37.055177,-120.454102&spn=17.505593,18.720703&z=5&source=embed

    http://cdfdata.fire.ca.gov/incidents/incidents_current

    And, hey, it may be further away than you have time for but if you happen to make it down to Placerville, stop in The Bookery, 326 Main St. and say hi. I'm there all day Wed., Thurs. and Saturday 3-6. :smile:
    “The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man [or woman] who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
    Variously credited to Mark Twain or Edward Abbey.













  • rgambsrgambs Posts: 13,576
    brianlux said:

    rgambs said:

    What about the area around Truckee and Reno? We are headed there in a week or so.

    Everything looks good that way right now. You can track CA fires on these sites:

    https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=zp8nK_5H0MFQ.kzTmU5XK-qJQ&ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&ll=37.055177,-120.454102&spn=17.505593,18.720703&z=5&source=embed

    http://cdfdata.fire.ca.gov/incidents/incidents_current

    And, hey, it may be further away than you have time for but if you happen to make it down to Placerville, stop in The Bookery, 326 Main St. and say hi. I'm there all day Wed., Thurs. and Saturday 3-6. :smile:
    How far is it? I would fucking love to check out your bookshop!
    Monkey Driven, Call this Living?
  • brianluxbrianlux Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 40,592
    edited September 2015
    rgambs said:

    brianlux said:

    rgambs said:

    What about the area around Truckee and Reno? We are headed there in a week or so.

    Everything looks good that way right now. You can track CA fires on these sites:

    https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=zp8nK_5H0MFQ.kzTmU5XK-qJQ&ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&ll=37.055177,-120.454102&spn=17.505593,18.720703&z=5&source=embed

    http://cdfdata.fire.ca.gov/incidents/incidents_current

    And, hey, it may be further away than you have time for but if you happen to make it down to Placerville, stop in The Bookery, 326 Main St. and say hi. I'm there all day Wed., Thurs. and Saturday 3-6. :smile:
    How far is it? I would fucking love to check out your bookshop!
    Cool! It would be almost two hours from Truckee (via I-80 to 49 South) to Placerville. The much more scenic route would be to go Truckee to South Lake Tahoe to Placerville but a little longer in time. I think MapQuest underestimated the driving time a bit and I can't seem to get Google maps to work for me but here are the two MapQuest routes:

    http://www.mapquest.com/#dc0f20703b1932006bda54ac

    http://www.mapquest.com/#b41a05c73f86b9c5fa726c6c

    I hope you make it! Watch the fire and smoke maps though- the bad news is that we had another fire start just today- another one in lake county, the Valley Fire- that went from 0 to 25,000 acres in a little over 9 hours with zero percent containment. We're shaking our heads in disbelief.

    I don't want to scare you off but if you or any in your family have respiratory issues you'll want to watch the fire and smoke maps I posted above. The smoke where we are is eye irritating, ubiquitous, often heavy like fog, and very wide spread over most of the upper 2/3 of the state.

    http://californiasmokeinfo.blogspot.com/

    I'll cross my fingers things settle down soon but it's very hard to say now. We desperately need rain.

    Sorry for the gloomy picture! It would be very cool to meet you folks!

    Just noticed that cooler temps down to high seventies expected the middle of this coming week with increased humidity, possible even moisture. It was 108 yesterday so that will help!
    Post edited by brianlux on
    “The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man [or woman] who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
    Variously credited to Mark Twain or Edward Abbey.













  • hedonisthedonist standing on the edge of forever Posts: 24,524
    B, I checked out your place; great reviews! And very cool to virtually see it.

    I was going to post this in the first-world problems thread but in actuality it's just a sad sign of current times. Our condo overlooks the pool area and what used to be green gorgeous grass surrounding it.

    All brown now.

    (oh please, let it rain...sometime fucking soon)
  • brianluxbrianlux Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 40,592
    hedonist said:

    B, I checked out your place; great reviews! And very cool to virtually see it.

    I was going to post this in the first-world problems thread but in actuality it's just a sad sign of current times. Our condo overlooks the pool area and what used to be green gorgeous grass surrounding it.

    All brown now.

    (oh please, let it rain...sometime fucking soon)

    Hey, thanks Hedo! To be fair and honest, The Bookery is my wife and her business partner's store- they've been running it for 32 years, I've been helping out there since 2001. I have my own separate book business (with several categories but specializing in music books :smile: ). I do by-appointment sales, book fairs, orders for other stores and a small on-line business for odd books.

    We have a 20% chance for sprinkles tomorrow. Keeping my fingers crossed! The smoke in the air is really getting to me. Eyes burning for two days, irritated throat, and looking outside is a bit depressing- it looks very foggy but it's smoke. Come on rain! We'll take anything!
    “The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man [or woman] who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
    Variously credited to Mark Twain or Edward Abbey.













  • brianluxbrianlux Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 40,592
    edited September 2015
    In this article, they're saying, "Valley Fire Completely Destroys Middletown, California". Middletown was on of those very small places tucked away that, in greener years, was like a perfect little lost paradise. And now gone- truly lost. :frowning:

    And this, "An disabled elderly woman died on Saturday after fire overwhelmed her house, according to the Lake County Sheriff's Office." Terrible, sad.

    http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/photos-valley-fire-rapidly-bur/52360858

    Heroes:
    image
    Copter 104 FF Richard Reiff in good spirits after suffering burns while attacking the ValleyFire.
    Post edited by brianlux on
    “The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man [or woman] who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
    Variously credited to Mark Twain or Edward Abbey.













  • hedonisthedonist standing on the edge of forever Posts: 24,524
    Damn. I can't even handle a small burn from cooking or whatever. Kudos to him.

    (love how two are in scrubs and the dude on the left is all "yeah whatever")

    On the upside, it's finally raining here. Hope it's up your way too, B.
  • brianlux said:

    In this article, they're saying, "Valley Fire Completely Destroys Middletown, California". Middletown was on of those very small places tucked away that, in greener years, was like a perfect little lost paradise. And now gone- truly lost. :frowning:

    And this, "An disabled elderly woman died on Saturday after fire overwhelmed her house, according to the Lake County Sheriff's Office." Terrible, sad.

    http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/photos-valley-fire-rapidly-bur/52360858

    Heroes:
    image
    Copter 104 FF Richard Reiff in good spirits after suffering burns while attacking the ValleyFire.

    That was awful to see on the news. Broke my heart. It is nice to see surrounding communities giving those who lost everything some help.
  • brianluxbrianlux Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 40,592
    hedonist said:

    Damn. I can't even handle a small burn from cooking or whatever. Kudos to him.

    (love how two are in scrubs and the dude on the left is all "yeah whatever")

    On the upside, it's finally raining here. Hope it's up your way too, B.

    Glad you're getting rain, Hedo!

    The weather is sort of helping, sort of not. It's much cooler and though no rain, the air is moist which helps but winds will not help. Nothing burning real close to us but I sure look forward to when the danger is not so great.
    “The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man [or woman] who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
    Variously credited to Mark Twain or Edward Abbey.













  • hedonisthedonist standing on the edge of forever Posts: 24,524
    Not sure how much good it has done / will do.

    But I came upon this.

    My goodness do I love Hicks!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRJhzcj9cpQ
  • EnkiduEnkidu So Cal Posts: 2,995
    We have family in Reno and they said the air has been off and on horrible because of the fires. We have tried so hard here in LA to be good about water rationing - our yard is brown, my husband has dug up the front part of the lawn so it's just dirt. We have buckets in the shower. And then you walk by some f'n McMansion mid-day and the sprinklers are on.

    The rain was nice today though.
  • brianluxbrianlux Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 40,592
    Hicks is great, LOL.

    Glad to hear you folks got rain! Still just moist air here but even that helps. And we able to breath fairly good air for the first time in a while!
    “The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man [or woman] who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
    Variously credited to Mark Twain or Edward Abbey.













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