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Tom_Mazanec

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Re: Wildfires
« Reply #1350 on: October 05, 2020, 04:30:42 PM »
I don’t know, Tor, what does make you think that?
For all those decades both statistics were near zero, and then both start rising sharply just a few years ago.
That is an observation just looking at the graphs.
What’s political about that?

interstitial

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Re: Wildfires
« Reply #1351 on: October 05, 2020, 10:07:11 PM »
It has probably already been mentioned but to anyone suffering from smoke indoors get an air cleaner with a HEPA filter. It has helped me with the worst of it. If you are broke a furnace hepa filter duct taped to a fan helps but is not great.

kassy

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Re: Wildfires
« Reply #1352 on: October 06, 2020, 02:31:07 AM »
I don’t know, Tor, what does make you think that?
For all those decades both statistics were near zero, and then both start rising sharply just a few years ago.
That is an observation just looking at the graphs.
What’s political about that?

Arguably 2016 is slighly better then 2015 (more out of historical bounds) but there is nothing political about this graph in itself.

We are flipping from the old ice house earth to a state humanity as we know it has not known before.

If you combine this with a graph on siberian wildfires it sort of shows we are heading into new frontiers. All this while we are not really applying the brakes yet.

Þetta minnismerki er til vitnis um að við vitum hvað er að gerast og hvað þarf að gera. Aðeins þú veist hvort við gerðum eitthvað.

Tom_Mazanec

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Re: Wildfires
« Reply #1353 on: October 06, 2020, 01:13:20 PM »
California’s largest wildfire on record is now a million-acre “gigafire”
https://www.vox.com/2020/10/5/21502397/august-complex-gigafire-wildfire-california-record
Quote
As of Monday morning, the August Complex Fire in the northern part of the state had burned at least 1,002,000 acres and was 54 percent contained, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire). The area that has burned since the fire ignited on August 16 is larger than Rhode Island and spans seven counties.

HotSpots H2O: Wildfire Threaten Cheyenne Water Supply
https://www.circleofblue.org/2020/wef/hotspots-h2o-wildfire-threaten-cheyenne-water-supply/
Quote
The Mullen Fire, which has spread through more than 147,000 acres of Colorado and Wyoming forest in the past two weeks, reached the southern edge of the main drinking water source for Cheyenne, the Wyoming capital. Protection of Rob Roy Reservoir is a major priority, city officials say.

70% of S. Idaho’s forests burned in the last 30 years. Think that will change? Think again.
https://www.idahostatesman.com/news/local/environment/fires/article246103000.html
Quote
Instead, the smoke arrived in September, first coming from the flurry of deadly fires across California and Oregon and now from the blazes that are burning in the national forests surrounding Boise. These fires that have already killed more than 27 people have once again brought national attention to the West and to their link to the rapidly changing climate.

The Climate Isn’t Just Worsening Wildfires, It Can Hobble Forests’ Ability to Recover
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/climate-impact-on-reforestation
Quote
If forests aren’t able to recover and regenerate, the fires could end up completely reshaping a landscape, with burned terrain emerging as long-term or permanent grassland or shrubland, or even a different type of forest altogether. “There are places that burned in the past 20 to 30 years, and they’re going to look different for a long time,” Rodman says. “They were contiguous conifer forests for decades and now they’re chest-high scrubs. That’s the kind of reorganization I’m talking about—a shift to a completely different ecosystem. If not different, it will certainly take a long time to get to where it was.”
« Last Edit: October 06, 2020, 01:20:57 PM by Tom_Mazanec »

kassy

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Re: Wildfires
« Reply #1354 on: October 07, 2020, 11:24:45 AM »
So one really big fire and many other smaller ones...

Quote
On Monday, the August complex fire in northern California expanded beyond 1m acres, elevating it from a mere “megafire” to a new classification, “gigafire”, never used before in a contemporary setting in the state.

At 1.03m acres, the fire is larger than the state of Rhode Island and is raging across seven counties, according to fire agency Cal Fire. An amalgamation of several fires caused when lightning struck dry forests in August, the vast conflagration has been burning for 50 days and is only half-contained.

The August complex fire heads a list of huge fires that have chewed through 4m acres of California this year, a figure called “mind-boggling” by Cal Fire and double the previous annual record. Five of the six largest fires ever recorded in the state have occurred in 2020, resulting in several dozen deaths and thousands of lost buildings.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/oct/06/california-wildfires-gigafire-first
Þetta minnismerki er til vitnis um að við vitum hvað er að gerast og hvað þarf að gera. Aðeins þú veist hvort við gerðum eitthvað.

vox_mundi

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Re: Wildfires
« Reply #1355 on: October 23, 2020, 03:26:24 AM »
Colorado Fire Grows By Over 100,000 Acres In 1 Day, Hits Rocky Mountain National Park
https://www.npr.org/2020/10/22/926838887/colorado-fire-grows-by-over-100-000-acres-in-1-day-hits-rocky-mountain-national-



Already battling the largest fire in state history, Colorado is now dealing with another blaze that grew by more than 100,000 acres in a day.

The flames traveled east, fueled by beetle-eaten pine trees and dry winds. Hundreds evacuated. The fire jumped the Continental Divide, which is 10,000 to 12,000 feet above sea level. Conditions forced the closing of Rocky Mountain National Park.

The fire, called East Troublesome after a nearby creek, has spread to more than 125,000 acres. Smoke plumes stretched 40,000 feet in the air. The nearby town of Grand Lake was forced to evacuate.



... "The growth that you see on this fire is unheard of," Grand County Sheriff Brett Schroetlin said during a Thursday press conference. "We plan for the worst. This is the worst of the worst of the worst. And no matter how we look at it, we can't control Mother Nature." ... "It was basically out of a movie. It was a firestorm in downtown Grand Lake. Smoke and embers flying around. It was just a chaotic scene,"
“There are three classes of people: those who see. Those who see when they are shown. Those who do not see.” ― anonymous

Insensible before the wave so soon released by callous fate. Affected most, they understand the least, and understanding, when it comes, invariably arrives too late

Juan C. García

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Re: Wildfires
« Reply #1356 on: October 23, 2020, 06:23:31 AM »
Colorado Fire Grows By Over 100,000 Acres In 1 Day, Hits Rocky Mountain National Park
https://www.npr.org/2020/10/22/926838887/colorado-fire-grows-by-over-100-000-acres-in-1-day-hits-rocky-mountain-national-

Already battling the largest fire in state history, Colorado is now dealing with another blaze that grew by more than 100,000 acres in a day.


The new figure is bigger...
Quote
Colorado wildfire grows by at least 140,000 acres in a day, forcing hundreds to flee

A dire wildfire crisis is unfolding in Colorado after a blaze exploded sixfold in size in just 24 hours, growing to about 170,000 acres on Thursday evening. The East Troublesome Fire, burning in Grand County and extending now into Rocky Mountain National Park, forced hundreds to quickly evacuate from Grand Lake and Granby overnight, with more evacuations taking place Thursday and an unknown number of structures reportedly destroyed.

The blaze has all the hallmarks of climate change. It’s burning at an elevation of 9,000 feet at a time of year when snow should be falling. The fire is also raging during a severe drought, aggravated by record heat, through stands of trees killed or weakened by a bark beetle infestation.

The East Troublesome Fire is now the second-largest wildfire in Colorado history. Three of the state’s five largest wildfires on record have now occurred in 2020. The largest, the Cameron Peak Fire, is still burning just west of Fort Collins.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2020/10/22/colorado-wildfire-east-troublesome/
Which is the best answer to Sep-2012 ASI lost (compared to 1979-2000)?
50% [NSIDC Extent] or
73% [PIOMAS Volume]

Volume is harder to measure than extent, but 3-dimensional space is real, 2D's hide ~50% thickness gone.
-> IPCC/NSIDC trends [based on extent] underestimate the real speed of ASI lost.

vox_mundi

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Re: Wildfires
« Reply #1357 on: October 23, 2020, 08:59:05 AM »
Colorado wildfire smoke turns Minnesota's sky and snow orange
https://www.mprnews.org/story/2020/10/22/colorado-wildfire-smoke-turns-minnesotas-sky-and-snow-orange

Our surreal orange sky Thursday featured lightning, thunder and orange-tinted snow
“There are three classes of people: those who see. Those who see when they are shown. Those who do not see.” ― anonymous

Insensible before the wave so soon released by callous fate. Affected most, they understand the least, and understanding, when it comes, invariably arrives too late

Sigmetnow

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Re: Wildfires
« Reply #1358 on: October 23, 2020, 04:00:04 PM »
Colorado
"My mom took these as she left Grand Lake tonight possibly seeing her house for the last time. Multiple buildings in the town are already burning. #EastTroublesomeFire #TroublesomeFire"
https://mobile.twitter.com/henslayofficial/status/1319151678080372736
⬇️ Photo below; more at the link.

5 people missing as Colorado grapples with one of its worst wildfires on record - CBS News
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/colorado-wildfire-east-troublesome-fire-people-missing/

Matt Renoux: "Early in the day and the #EastTroublesomeFire is already picking up with activity. More than 125,000 acres burned and we’re hearing reports that dozens of homes have been lost in the Columbine Lake neighborhood near Grand Lake. #9News”
https://mobile.twitter.com/mattrenoux/status/1319293015857352709
Photos at the link.

Corey H. Jones: "Here's our ongoing coverage of Colorado's #EastTroublesomeFire, which crews expect to grow today bc of more high winds and dry conditions. ...”
https://mobile.twitter.com/coreyhjones_/status/1319324057658118146

Michael Wara: "Fingers crossed for Estes Park today. It appears that #EastTroublesomeFire may. have crossed the Continental Divide. GOES-17 heat signatures tend to exaggerate the scope of a fire but not usually by this much. Grand Lake in lower left, Estes Park in upper right.”
https://mobile.twitter.com/michaelwwara/status/1319317380820918273
⬇️ Map below.

The Colorado Sun: "Until 2002, Colorado had never had a 100,000-acre wildfire. Yesterday, the #EastTroublesomeFire grew 100,000 acres in 24 hours and is still only the third-biggest fire this year. More charts: https://t.co/GP944fLPjh Latest on #EastTroublesomeFire: https://t.co/sjGdNHPwq6
https://mobile.twitter.com/coloradosun/status/1319321051428319234
⬇️ Chart below.
People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it.

J Cartmill

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Re: Wildfires
« Reply #1359 on: October 25, 2020, 08:01:10 PM »
  Extremely Critical fire danger in California.

From the Sacramento Weather Office discussion:

  A powerful and dangerous offshore wind event will materialize 
  across northern and central California over the next 12 to 24 
  hours. This event is forecast to be the strongest event of the 
  year so far for the region. Consequently, the potential fire 
  weather impacts will be extreme. The Storm Prediction Center has a
  large portion of the region under an "extremely critical" risk, 
  the highest possible categorical assignment for fire weather. 
  Fuels are dry and will only further dry, winds and gusts will be 
  very strong, and relative humidity values will be desert-dry. The 
  meteorological synoptic setup is uncomfortably similar to recent
  past events in northern California such as October 27-28, 2019 
  (Kincade Fire rapid growth), November 8, 2018 (Camp Fire rapid 
  growth), and October 8-9, 2017 (2017 Wine Country Fires rapid 
  growth).

  While winds are forecast to gradually subside through the day on 
  Monday, relative humidity values will drop to remarkably low 
  values -- less than 5 percent for some locations -- with dew 
  points at or below 0 deg F  (-18 deg C).


  To recap...all necessary ingredients will be in place to produce 
  extremely critical fire weather conditions: 1) strong winds, 2) 
  low relative humidity values, and 3) dry wildland fuels. Any new 
  ignitions will be present in an environment that will promote 
  rapid, explosive, and dangerous spread of fire. Have a plan in 
  place if you need to evacuate will little/no notice. While Fire 
  Season 2020 has already been historic from the countless lightning-
  based ignitions in August, remember that peak offshore wind 
  season is right now for much of the Golden State. Be safe and 
  vigilant during this extremely high-impact and particularly 
  dangerous fire weather event.

Sigmetnow

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Re: Wildfires
« Reply #1360 on: October 27, 2020, 02:18:05 PM »
California.  Humidities in the low single digits + Santa Ana winds.
Fires sweep through Orange County, driving tens of thousands from their homes
Quote
A pair of wind-driven wildfires raced toward neighborhoods in Orange County Monday, critically injuring two firefighters, forcing tens of thousands of residents to evacuate and smothering much of the region with smoke.

The larger of the blazes, the Silverado fire, broke out shortly after 6:45 a.m. in the brush country around Santiago Canyon and Silverado Canyon roads, burning more than 7,200 acres as Santa Ana winds pushed it west to the suburban edge of Irvine and Lake Forest. By Monday evening, more than 70,000 people were under evacuation orders in the foothills.

Two firefighters on hand crews were severely burned as they battled the flames, according to Orange County Fire Authority Chief Brian Fennessy.

The firefighters, ages 26 and 31, were both intubated after suffering second- and third-degree burns over half their bodies, Fennessy said. ...
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-10-27/la-me-fires-orange-county-mainbar
People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it.

Tom_Mazanec

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Re: Wildfires
« Reply #1361 on: December 09, 2020, 02:31:33 PM »
Severe wildfires burning 8 times more area in western U.S., study finds
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/wildfires-western-united-states-8-times-more-area/
Quote
As we move into winter and what is typically the wet season for the western U.S., the 2020 fire season is finally winding down. But the damage is done: nearly 14 million acres have burned across the nation, about double the 10-year average and the most acres burned since reliable record-keeping began in 1983.

oren

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Re: Wildfires
« Reply #1362 on: December 09, 2020, 03:02:20 PM »
From the article:


Tom_Mazanec

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Re: Wildfires
« Reply #1363 on: December 09, 2020, 03:04:33 PM »
Severe Wildfires Raise the Chance for Future Monstrous Blazes
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/severe-wildfires-raise-the-chance-for-future-monstrous-blazes/
Quote
The complete torching of trees allows dense, low vegetation to sprout, creating a new hotbed for more extreme fire

vox_mundi

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Re: Wildfires
« Reply #1364 on: March 23, 2021, 04:18:34 PM »
Russia Forecasters Warn Over Siberia Forest Fires
https://phys.org/news/2021-03-russia-siberia-forest.html

The vast Russian region of Siberia will face hot and dry weather this year leading to more forest fires, forecasters said on Tuesday, linking the blazes to climate change.

Speaking to reporters to mark World Meteorological Day by video link, Roman Vilfand, head of science at Russia's weather service, said the whole country would see above-average temperatures from April to September.

https://public.wmo.int/en/resources/world-meteorological-day/wmd-2021-the-ocean-our-climate-and-weather

The Siberian regions of Krasnoyarsk and Yakutia, he said, would be particularly hot in June.

... Freakishly warm weather across large swathes of Siberia last July saw nearly 300 wildfires blazing at once, causing record high carbon emissions.

Russia has set numerous heat records in recent years, with the first half of 2020 seeing the warmest temperatures since the country began weather observations.
“There are three classes of people: those who see. Those who see when they are shown. Those who do not see.” ― anonymous

Insensible before the wave so soon released by callous fate. Affected most, they understand the least, and understanding, when it comes, invariably arrives too late

Rodius

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Re: Wildfires
« Reply #1365 on: March 23, 2021, 10:02:46 PM »
Severe Wildfires Raise the Chance for Future Monstrous Blazes
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/severe-wildfires-raise-the-chance-for-future-monstrous-blazes/
Quote
The complete torching of trees allows dense, low vegetation to sprout, creating a new hotbed for more extreme fire

This is why I think the regions in Australia that burned last year will do a repeat within the next few years.
It is more likely now because this summer the fire regions where those massive fires happened have had a "cool" and wet summer. Grass is green, trees are thriving, shrubs are bursting out all over the place. All it needs is a few months of heat after a dry winter and it is game on.

La Nina, the reason for the cool and wet summer, is ending. Next summer the fires will be back, and when the next El Nino appears, honestly, it will terrify me because there is zero chance that the fire season in an El Nino will pass without a huge events.

grixm

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Re: Wildfires
« Reply #1366 on: April 17, 2021, 01:33:11 PM »
First Siberian wildfire of the season?
In just two days it has gone from nothing to already cover around 700 km^2. South of the Gulf of Ob, with surrounding lakes still being covered with ice.

https://go.nasa.gov/3mW6uA6

grixm

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Re: Wildfires
« Reply #1367 on: April 19, 2021, 03:49:58 PM »

Tor Bejnar

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Re: Wildfires
« Reply #1368 on: April 19, 2021, 05:55:59 PM »
National Interagency Fire Center (USA's NIFC)
Quote
April 19, 2021
Currently, four large fires have burned 17,697 acres in Montana, Arizona, Texas, and Oklahoma. One new large fire was reported in Oklahoma.
Interestingly, InciWeb says, "There are no active incidents in Oklahoma."

NIFC table below.  I guess 324 acres (131 hectares) is "large."
Arctic ice is healthy for children and other living things because "we cannot negotiate with the melting point of ice"

morganism

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Re: Wildfires
« Reply #1369 on: April 28, 2021, 08:09:10 PM »
Omsk region emergency services said number of wildfires is seven to ten times above the ‘norm’.

http://siberiantimes.com/other/others/news/wildfire-infernos-in-western-siberia-as-drivers-in-novosibirsk-region-report-zero-visibility-on-roads/

By 26 April 2021 the total area of land burned by wildfires reached 150,000 hectares.

glennbuck

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Re: Wildfires
« Reply #1370 on: April 28, 2021, 11:45:24 PM »
The 2019–2020 Australian bushfires injected a large amount of smoke that rose well into the stratosphere due to absorption of solar energy. A climate model is used to simulate the plume rise, transport, chemical, and climate impacts of the smoke from these massive bushfires. Simulations suggest that the smoke remained in the stratosphere for all of 2020 and that it measurably warmed the stratosphere by about 1–2K for more than 6months. The smoke particles were transported to high latitudes in the Southern Hemisphere and assuming similar heterogeneous reaction rates as sulfate aerosol should have produced about 4%–6% loss of the total column at high southern latitudes.

https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1029/2021GL092609




glennbuck

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Re: Wildfires
« Reply #1371 on: May 11, 2021, 10:19:41 PM »
Wildfires in Siberia, area on fire 1,432,000 km 2, 1,500,000 km 2 is the size of Mongolia, two times the size of France.


Rodius

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Re: Wildfires
« Reply #1372 on: May 12, 2021, 02:01:40 AM »
Wildfires in Siberia, area on fire 1,432,000 km 2, 1,500,000 km 2 is the size of Mongolia, two times the size of France.

Bloody hell, that is huge.

Sciguy

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Re: Wildfires
« Reply #1373 on: May 12, 2021, 08:53:24 PM »
A study of Alaskan forests show they regrow with more diverse species and store more carbon after being burned in wildfires.

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2274752-alaskan-forests-may-store-more-carbon-after-being-burned-by-wildfire/

Quote
Alaskan forests may store more carbon after being burned by wildfire
15 April 2021

By Ibrahim Sawal

As the boreal forests of Alaska recover from wildfires, they may shift from containing mostly coniferous trees to a deciduous-coniferous mix – and this change could ultimately offset some of the carbon emitted during the fires.

Climate change is making wildfires more frequent and intense in certain parts of the world, such as the boreal forests of the Arctic. These forests typically act as carbon sinks, but if fires burn deep into their soil, they could begin to release more carbon into the atmosphere than they store through new wood growth, accelerating the effects of climate change.

Here's the study:

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/372/6539/280

Quote
Carbon loss from boreal forest wildfires offset by increased dominance of deciduous trees

Michelle C. Mack, Xanthe J. Walker, Jill F. Johnstone, Heather D. Alexander, April M. Melvin, Mélanie Jean, Samantha N. Miller

Science  16 Apr 2021:
Vol. 372, Issue 6539, pp. 280-283
DOI: 10.1126/science.abf3903

Abstract

In boreal forests, climate warming is shifting the wildfire disturbance regime to more frequent fires that burn more deeply into organic soils, releasing sequestered carbon to the atmosphere. To understand the destabilization of carbon storage, it is necessary to consider these effects in the context of long-term ecological change. In Alaskan boreal forests, we found that shifts in dominant plant species catalyzed by severe fire compensated for greater combustion of soil carbon over decadal time scales. Severe burning of organic soils shifted tree dominance from slow-growing black spruce to fast-growing deciduous broadleaf trees, resulting in a net increase in carbon storage by a factor of 5 over the disturbance cycle. Reduced fire activity in future deciduous-dominated boreal forests could increase the tenure of this carbon on the landscape, thereby mitigating the feedback to climate warming.


gerontocrat

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Re: Wildfires
« Reply #1374 on: May 12, 2021, 09:45:11 PM »
Last sentence has an implied IF

Quote
Reduced fire activity in future deciduous-dominated boreal forests could increase the tenure of this carbon on the landscape, thereby mitigating the feedback to climate warming.

As AGW increases on the one hand precipitation may increase and on the other hand droughts may increase. The precipitation encourges growth - the drought dries it out leading to worse wildfires.

Natural replacement of conifer forests with deciduous forests through AGW could, therefore, make things worse.

I guess those who are a bit younger than me will find out.





"Para a Causa do Povo a Luta Continua!"
"And that's all I'm going to say about that". Forrest Gump
"Damn, I wanted to see what happened next" (Epitaph)

Sebastian Jones

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Re: Wildfires
« Reply #1375 on: May 14, 2021, 01:25:09 AM »
Replacement of the boreal forest with mixed deciduous forests or Aspen Parkland will doom species dependent on the boreal, such as billions of songbirds and millions of caribou.

Also, the burning of the organic soil (read peat) will release a pulse of carbon to the atmosphere that is likely to dwarf carbon sequestration by deciduous trees.

vox_mundi

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Re: Wildfires
« Reply #1376 on: May 20, 2021, 04:58:18 AM »
Hot Summers, Intense Burn Seasons Seed 'Zombie' Fires: Study
https://phys.org/news/2021-05-hot-summers-intense-seasons-seed.html#lightbox

"Zombie" fires that linger under the winter snow in the forests of the Northern Hemisphere tend to re-ignite after hotter summers, according to a study on Wednesday warning that climate change may make them more common.



Called "zombie" fires because they apparently "rise from the dead", these overwintering blazes can survive even when the temperature outside drops far below zero.

The study, published in the journal Nature, found that overwintering fires are still relatively rare in boreal forests—during the 2002 to 2018 period as whole they were responsible for just 0.8 percent of the total burned area.

But this varied dramatically depending on the warmth of the summers, the authors found, with the number rising to 38 percent of burn area one year.

This suggests potentially more overwintering fires as the climate warms, the researchers said.

Rebecca C. Scholten et al, Overwintering fires in boreal forests, Nature (2021).
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03437-y
“There are three classes of people: those who see. Those who see when they are shown. Those who do not see.” ― anonymous

Insensible before the wave so soon released by callous fate. Affected most, they understand the least, and understanding, when it comes, invariably arrives too late

Tom_Mazanec

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Re: Wildfires
« Reply #1377 on: May 27, 2021, 11:52:06 AM »
California Seeing More Wildfires as Drought Intensifies
https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/west/2021/05/26/615932.htm
Quote
As California sinks deeper into drought it already has had more than 900 additional wildfires than at this point in 2020, which was a record-breaking year that saw more than 4% of the state’s land scorched by flames.

Rodius

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Re: Wildfires
« Reply #1378 on: May 28, 2021, 10:14:10 AM »
California Seeing More Wildfires as Drought Intensifies
https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/west/2021/05/26/615932.htm
Quote
As California sinks deeper into drought it already has had more than 900 additional wildfires than at this point in 2020, which was a record-breaking year that saw more than 4% of the state’s land scorched by flames.

4% of land being burned in one year is shocking.
I am increasingly not understanding how 4% of land being burned can not be seen and catastrophically bad to the point of seeing the need for a radical overhaul of how things are done in the region.... and to think this year looks like it will be worse.....


Tor Bejnar

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Re: Wildfires
« Reply #1380 on: June 04, 2021, 06:21:29 PM »
Re USA info:
https://www.nifc.gov/fire-information/nfn
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Quote
June 4, 2021
Currently, 18 large fires have burned 116,224 acres in 7 states. The Southwest Area is the most active with four large fires in both Arizona and New Mexico and one in Texas.
https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/:


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Re: Wildfires
« Reply #1381 on: June 04, 2021, 11:47:19 PM »
California Seeing More Wildfires as Drought Intensifies
https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/west/2021/05/26/615932.htm
Quote
As California sinks deeper into drought it already has had more than 900 additional wildfires than at this point in 2020, which was a record-breaking year that saw more than 4% of the state’s land scorched by flames.

4% of land being burned in one year is shocking.
I am increasingly not understanding how 4% of land being burned can not be seen and catastrophically bad to the point of seeing the need for a radical overhaul of how things are done in the region.... and to think this year looks like it will be worse.....

Lots of us Californians see it as catastrophically bad. The government does, too. But governments are slow animals. I know quite a few people that are moving out of the state with wildfire being the primary reason. It really does suck living for months at a time with bags packed by the front door and a constant fear of fire and wind. And it seems it will only get worse.

Rodius

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Re: Wildfires
« Reply #1382 on: June 05, 2021, 02:21:58 AM »
California Seeing More Wildfires as Drought Intensifies
https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/west/2021/05/26/615932.htm
Quote
As California sinks deeper into drought it already has had more than 900 additional wildfires than at this point in 2020, which was a record-breaking year that saw more than 4% of the state’s land scorched by flames.

4% of land being burned in one year is shocking.
I am increasingly not understanding how 4% of land being burned can not be seen and catastrophically bad to the point of seeing the need for a radical overhaul of how things are done in the region.... and to think this year looks like it will be worse.....

Lots of us Californians see it as catastrophically bad. The government does, too. But governments are slow animals. I know quite a few people that are moving out of the state with wildfire being the primary reason. It really does suck living for months at a time with bags packed by the front door and a constant fear of fire and wind. And it seems it will only get worse.

If we really saw the issue as catastrophic, then people would actually do something about it.

People leaving is people doing something about it.... but it isn't solving the problem.

That was really my point that I didn't explain enough.
I suppose the first thing is people leaving, then the State Govt will panic because people are leaving, which reduces their tax intake, which is a problem Govts tend to worry most about. That might work, but it is already late in the game, can we really wait for Govts to take action because of reduced tax intake?

People and Govt don't take the fires seriously enough. They might think they do, but they don't. There needs to be a radical overhaul in California, from the crops that are grown there, to forest management, to where people live, to removing CO2 from the economy.
Sadly, it isn't bad enough for that. We live in a crazy world.

As an FYI, I live in Australia, and our Fed and State Govt don't take fires seriously either, even after the recent catastrophic fires. Their answer has been to do more controlled burnings and increase funding to the underfunded fire departments and to keep saying it was a really bad year and it isn't likely to happen for another 50 years.

My odds are 50% for next summer........

vox_mundi

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Re: Wildfires
« Reply #1383 on: June 15, 2021, 02:34:31 AM »
Rocky Mountain Forests Now Burning More Than Any Point In Past 2,000 Years
https://phys.org/news/2021-06-rocky-mountain-forests-years.html



Following 2020's extreme fire season, high-elevation forests in the central Rocky Mountains now are burning more than at any point in the past 2,000 years, according to a new University of Montana study set to publish in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Researchers from UM and the University of Wyoming analyzed a unique network of fire-history records to understand how 21st-century fire activity compares to wildfires in the past. The findings highlight that burning in recent decades in high-elevation forests of northern Colorado and southern Wyoming is unprecedented over the past several millennia.

As fire paleoecologists—scientists who study historical ecosystems—the team uses charcoal found in lake sediments to piece together the fire history of forests across the Rocky Mountains.

... "As the 2020 fire season unfolded, we realized we already had a well-defined understanding of the fire history of many of the places burning, based on over 20 lake-sediment records our teams had collected over the past 15 years," said Higuera, professor of fire ecology in the W.A. Franke College of Forestry and Conservation. "When the smoke settled, we thought 'Wow, we may have witnessed something truly unprecedented here.' So we combined the existing records for the first time and compared them to recent fire activity. To our surprise, 2020 indeed pushed fire activity outside the range of variability these forests have experienced over at least the past two millennia."

The authors found that since 2000, wildfires are burning nearly twice as much area on average compared to the last 2,000 years. Whereas a high-elevation forest historically burned once every 230 years on average, in the 21st-century that has now shrunk to around 120 years. That's more fire activity than occurred during the "Medieval Climate Anomaly," a period around 1,200 years ago when temperatures spiked higher than they were during the 20th century.

What's striking is that temperatures, and correspondingly fire, are now exceeding the range that these forests have coped with for thousands of years—largely as result of human-caused climate change." ... ."It's sobering to see that it's clearly happening, and early in the 21st century—not in 2050, not in 2075, but by 2020,"

Philip E. Higuera el al., "Rocky Mountain subalpine forests now burning more than any time in recent millennia," PNAS (2021).
https://www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.2103135118
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Freegrass

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Re: Wildfires
« Reply #1384 on: June 20, 2021, 05:21:02 PM »
Even though its been hot in Siberia, I don't see many fires this year. Is there an explanation for this? Are they putting them out faster? Or are we just lucky they're not starting?
90% of the world is religious, but somehow "love thy neighbour" became "fuck thy neighbours", if they don't agree with your point of view.

WTF happened?

kassy

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Re: Wildfires
« Reply #1385 on: June 20, 2021, 09:21:05 PM »
I think the snow cover cleared out late but fast so they will start later.
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Freegrass

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Re: Wildfires
« Reply #1386 on: June 22, 2021, 03:32:12 PM »
Could be Kassy, but it looks like Russia is also putting in more effort to put them out. Just found this article.

Thousands of firefighters battle dozens of forest fires in Russia
https://www.dailysabah.com/world/europe/thousands-of-firefighters-battle-dozens-of-forest-fires-in-russia

Nearly 3,000 firefighters are currently battling some 60 forest fires in Russia, the authorities announced Saturday, adding that 30 firefighting aircraft were currently in action.

According to the report, the fires are raging over an area of more than 500 square kilometers (193 square miles).

There have been some successes in the fire-fighting efforts: On Friday alone, fires had been extinguished on a total of 60 square kilometers.

"The number of fires is decreasing, as is usual in June, because fresh grass is growing," a spokesperson for the environmental organization Greenpeace told German Press Agency (dpa).

However, the all-clear cannot yet be given. For example, fires are continuing to spread at Lake Baikal in Siberia and in Yakutia in north-eastern Russia, the spokesperson reported.

"This year the authorities are taking much stricter measures to prevent and fight fires." There have been many fines, he said, and some people have even been arrested.

According to Russian environmentalists, many forest fires were caused by negligence, such as campfires getting out of control or dry grass being set alight. This time, however, there were slightly fewer fires than in previous years.

"The official data still deviates seriously from reality," said the Greenpeace spokesperson.

A few days ago, the Ministry of Environment complained that some regions downplayed the extent of the fires. The reported figures did not match the statistics after the evaluation of satellite data.

In the largest country on earth in terms of surface area, fires, some of them devastating, occur again and again in the summer months.
90% of the world is religious, but somehow "love thy neighbour" became "fuck thy neighbours", if they don't agree with your point of view.

WTF happened?

Alphabet Hotel

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Re: Wildfires
« Reply #1387 on: June 30, 2021, 08:19:12 AM »
Oops, sorry about that. Let's try that again.

Dakota Smith did a whole thread of wildfire animations on Twitter, starting with this one of pyrocumulonimbus forming over two fires in British Columbia

https://twitter.com/weatherdak/status/1410080621179805696

Sebastian Jones

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Re: Wildfires
« Reply #1388 on: July 01, 2021, 04:51:19 AM »
Lytton British Columbia in Canada, recently in the news because it shattered the 80  year old heat record for Canada three days in a row, culminating in a mind boggling 49 degrees, has, unsurprisingly, caught fire and has been evacuated.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/bc-wildfires-june-30-2021-1.6085919

miki

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Re: Wildfires
« Reply #1389 on: July 01, 2021, 07:57:02 AM »

HapHazard

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Re: Wildfires
« Reply #1390 on: July 01, 2021, 08:11:38 PM »
Escaping the fire in Lytton:

https://player.vimeo.com/video/569655524
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Re: Wildfires
« Reply #1391 on: July 02, 2021, 03:42:22 AM »
90% destroyed, shocking, it's like an endtime god smite type of thing, and I'm not religious
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Freegrass

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Re: Wildfires
« Reply #1392 on: July 03, 2021, 12:52:51 AM »
It looks like the Russians are losing the battle against wildfires...  :-\
90% of the world is religious, but somehow "love thy neighbour" became "fuck thy neighbours", if they don't agree with your point of view.

WTF happened?

etienne

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Re: Wildfires
« Reply #1393 on: July 03, 2021, 07:49:12 AM »
Interesting but nothing really new.

'We can do something about climate change to reduce these extreme conditions,' says wildfire scientist
https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1917413955644

kassy

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Re: Wildfires
« Reply #1394 on: July 03, 2021, 07:31:43 PM »
More than 130 wildfires - many sparked by lightning strikes - are burning across western Canada following a record-breaking heatwave.

...

On Friday, the British Columbia Wildfire Service said that 136 fires were active across the province following some 12,000 lightning strikes the previous day. Some officials are quoted as saying the fires now number more than 150.

Hundreds of people have been warned they may have to leave their homes.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-57703853
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etienne

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Re: Wildfires
« Reply #1395 on: July 03, 2021, 11:43:04 PM »
Maybe somebody already mentioned it, but there is a 3x30 rule for wildfires:
>30 °C
<30% humidity
>30 km/h winds.
In BC, it seems that all 3 parameters are way on the wrong side.

vox_mundi

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Re: Wildfires
« Reply #1396 on: July 04, 2021, 12:28:02 AM »
Russia’s largest and coldest region is on fire - again, and this year wildfires strike early
http://siberiantimes.com/other/others/news/russias-largest-and-coldest-region-is-on-fire-again-and-this-year-wildfires-strike-early/

https://desdemonadespair.net/2021/07/siberias-road-of-bones-closed-as-early-wildfires-rage-we-cant-see-the-sun-because-of-the-smog-flakes-of-ash-are-raining-from-the-sky-we-are-str.html



Early summer 2021 wildfires inferno in Yakutia, Russia’s coldest region, 11 June 2021. Video: The Siberian Times



Wildfires rage in Yakutia, 28 June 2021. Video: The Siberian Times



Wildfires rage in Yakutia, 30 June 2021. Video: The Siberian Times
“There are three classes of people: those who see. Those who see when they are shown. Those who do not see.” ― anonymous

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HapHazard

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Re: Wildfires
« Reply #1397 on: July 04, 2021, 03:17:25 AM »
Maybe somebody already mentioned it, but there is a 3x30 rule for wildfires:
>30 °C
<30% humidity
>30 km/h winds.
In BC, it seems that all 3 parameters are way on the wrong side.

This is true, and this has been the setup for almost 2 weeks now. And it's showing. Way too early in the season for this amount of wildfire crap... welcome to the new normal! The 10 day forecast looks like more of the same - >30C temps, tons of sun, and no rain other than a few scattered thunderstorms (ugh).

If I call you out but go no further, the reason is Brandolini's law.

kassy

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Re: Wildfires
« Reply #1398 on: July 04, 2021, 01:16:27 PM »
Cyprus appeals for help as deadly wildfire rips through forest

The blaze, fanned by strong winds, is spreading through the southern Limassol district and has forced the evacuation of several villages.

On Sunday, four people were confirmed to have died in the fire.

...

Cyprus has been experiencing a week-long heatwave, with temperatures reaching up to 40C (104F).

...

Firefighters are now racing to prevent the blaze from crossing a mountainous region and ripping through the Machairas Forest.

"It is the worst forest fire in the history of Cyprus," Director of the Department of Forests Charalambos Alexandrou told the country's Omega TV. He said the perimeter of the fire stretched for "at least 40km (25 miles)".

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-57710048
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morganism

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Re: Wildfires
« Reply #1399 on: July 04, 2021, 11:15:19 PM »
A dry California creek bed looked like a wildfire risk. Then the beavers went to work

https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article252187473.html

"The creek bed, altered by decades of agricultural use, had looked like a wildfire risk. It came back to life far faster than anticipated after the beavers began building dams that retained water longer.
“It went from dry grassland. .. to totally revegetated, trees popping up, willows, wetland plants of all types, different meandering stream channels across about 60 acres of floodplain,” she said.