I ran across this story and thought it was apt. The gist is that July 2018 was the hottest month ever recorded and a full 5 degrees above average. From the story: “The literature suggests that wildfires are more driven by the temperature and moisture content in the air than by the moisture content in the soil, Williams said. This bodes ill for our warming world.”
We are used to talking about global warming in epochal terms, degrees per century, inches per decade. The local effects, though, happen relatively fast. We will see it in bigger storms, bigger fires, higher storm surges. People are displaced by calamity, not by another half degree. Any guesses on the next time NYC subways are flooded? What year Miami gets abandoned?
My parents were at a Dr.'s appointment yesterday in SF, explaining to the receptionist that they did not have the paperwork requested because their Paradise house just burned down. The guy behind them them chimed in, “I lost everything in the Tubbs Fire.”
Paradise and Malibu weren’t established yesterday. They are no more “encroaching” than East Coast cities being hit by hurricanes.
Oh, those people in Puerto Rico are encroaching into areas that are extremely vulnerable to natural disasters. As are, I guess, the people who live in New York City, Miami, Louisiana, Houston… /s
I haven’t been able to ride my new bike, because the air quality is Unhealthy. The skies have been brownish-reddish-gray. When I go outside, I smell smoke. And I live over 200 miles from the Camp Fire.
Neither ‘side’ is blaming PG & E or SoCal Edison. I guess that is not a ‘sexy’ enough issue to get their supporters riled up.
California has always had Santa Ana winds and it is a dry place. Yet despite causing dozens of very destructive fires with horrendous losses and deaths, it appears that these electrical companies are doing nothing. And no one is forcing them to do anything.
It doesn’t appear to me that PG&E is doing nothing. I’ve observed with my own eyes that they’re doing a lot in my area, and the article I posted from the Santa Cruz Sentinel demonstrated that they are doing a lot in Santa Cruz County as well. But there are a lot of power lines where they have to clear vegetation.
You can google the history of flooding and damage in Malibu. I was nearby for one. Took out a chunk od Santa Monica Pier.
Of course, if people didn’t live there, homes wouldn’t be lost. But as said, sosme families have lived in these pockets for generations without seeing this level of destruction. And yes, you can say the same for parts of FL, New Orleans, and more.
Day 8 of smoke in our area. ( We are 175 miles west of Camp/Paradise fire.) I escaped to the coast (planned) for a few days over the weekend, thinking air would be better. Nope. Right on ocean and still had hard time seeing the water. One beach walk and we all felt our lungs and eyes begging for mercy.
Since any outdoor activity is challenging, I am getting things done for Thanksgiving…but I’m certainly feeling the lack of exercise. Pales in comparison to the heart wrenching stories about people and animals coming from the fire zones. God Bless those firemen–can’t imagine how they do it. Fingers crossed for weather forecast indicating Possible rain on Tuesday.
Flooding isn’t something that is normally an issue here in Southern California. We’ve had bad storms come in and take out piers, but we don’t get enough rain for floods. What we will have is issues with mudslides, but that comes as a result of the fires. The horrific mudslides last year were a direct result of damage inflicted by the wildfires a couple months earlier.
Wildfires have been a problem in Southern California for well, as long as people have lived here and the Santa Ana winds just exacerbate the problem. Climate change will make it even worse.
@TatinG I want to make it clear that I am not blaming the residents.
But I wasn’t talking just about California, I was talking about coastal areas and flood plains everywhere, volcanoes in Hawaii, etc.
I live in an area with trees and forest everywhere. But it RAINS here. And SNOWS here. Although Maine suffered a catastrophic fire, back in 1947, and could again, it doesn’t happen regularly. It could, given a really bad drought again. Nine towns were destroyed then. There are places on the coast that are suffering really bad erosion, and it will continue until places built near the beach are destroyed. They aren’t being allowed to rebuild.
Watching the videos shot from people’s cars as they drive through the fires - scary stuff! @-)
I once drove by a house on fire and was about 30 feet away. The heat we could feel coming off the house through the car was amazing. I can’t imagine what it must feel like to drive through it.
The haze in the Bay Area seems to be getting worse. It’s gotten to the point where one of my kid’s professors has basically told everyone to come to lecture only if you really want to.
jym626, Air quality worse in the East Bay (where I live) than in SF. Although hazy, I cannot really say it is too much of an issue. Sacramento’s air quality is terrible. Enjoy your visit. Edit: Revised weather forecast: no rain until Friday.