Fire Danger: I'm feeling Californian

[Dave Brown]

Well, it's not like Katrina or Rita or the Tsunami or any of that major stuff.

 

Still, the weather dangers of 2005 haven't left us unaffected here in North Texas.

 

If you've heard of the wildfires in Texas and Oklahoma, I can tell you they are scary.

 

The one last Monday came within 2 miles of my house...my folks heard it on CNN.

 

At the same time there were 12 others in the North Texas area...meaning that all fire departments were stretched to the limit. This cost 5 homes that day.

 

Now last night, about 100 miles from here, and entire town burned down.

 

We are in serious trouble here; the worst drought in 50 years left most of the wild vegetation dead by September. Couple that with high temps (75 today,) low humidity (8% today,) and high winds (30 mph, with 50 mph gusts) a small cigarette could destroy hundreds of acres.

 

And this is, in my mind, a problem in California most years.

 

And now, California is facing incredible flooding.

 

Jeremy, I trust you are staying high and dry. Can you send us some rain?

[jeremy c]

I'd be glad to send you some rain.

 

The flooding is not going to affect me at my home. Driving sometimes gets interesting.

 

I missed the first round of storms because I was vacationing in Hawaii.

 

Stay safe Dave! If the fire gets any closer, hose down your roof. And then get out of town.

[g.]

Practically every year since I've lived here part of the summer is clotted with dense smoke. And it's that way in a lot of western states. It's not uncommon for some homes to get burned though population here is comparitively sparse.

 

Meanwhile special interest groups that live in urban areas and have lots of money seem to push for less logging roads (which are also called fire trails because that's how you get people and equipment to the fire sites), less logging, less harvest of dry downfalled timber, more lawsuits to make more of it wilderness area, etc.

 

Well, we already have more wilderness area and natural beauty, assholes. How about reclaiming a ton of private land in your areas and planting forests on it, and populating it with wolfs, grizzlies, coyotes, spotted owls, and whatnot. And dig up all those roadbeds and don't let people come there. It'll take you a long time to have a tenth of what we've got that you are so intent in controlling with no regard for the lives of those who live in such areas.

 

This has been a rant. You may now return to your regular workaday world.

[jeremy c]

A lot of the flooding in California (the Napa River and the Russian River in particular) is caused by all the development on the banks of the river. When it rains, there is no where for the water to go.

 

The rivers are going to overflow, they overflow every few years. The town of Guerneville has been underwater many times. Napa has also flooded before and will again.

 

I don't understand why government assistance is given year after year so that people can rebuild in a place that is going to flood.

[Nicklab]

The longterm droughts out west are certainly no help with this kind of weather. The soil has become so dried out over the past few years that the ground barely has the ability to deal with the deluges that are going on right now out west. That and the lack of trees in so much of coastal California leads to all of the mudslides.

 

The fires in Oklahoma and Texas are quite puzzling though. Especially for this time of year. I would think the wintertime would be more of a wet season for that region.

 

If anyone wants to trade weather, we've got some nice freezing rain mixed with snow today in the Northeast. Fun, fun, fun with slush everywhere!

[davebrownbass]

We had our first freezing rain (in fact, we missed a day of school, way back in November. Next day, it was 70 degrees.

 

This part of the country is pretty dry at all times, averaging less than 50 inches of rain most years.

 

Our winters are often very dry as well. Generally, our best chance for rains is in the late spring, along with the tornadoes they bring (I watched one from my back porch a few years ago, but it was going the other way.

 

I just heard they were evacuating the town of Huckabay...that's 100 miles away from me.

 

I'm not overly fearful of these fires. Paved roads form a natural fireblock. Of course, my little cul-de-sac backs up against a pretty busy road.

 

It's the country folk who've bought a little trailer and settled down on 3 acres, savin' and hopin' to build a nice brick home in a few years. They are getting savaged in this firestorm.

 

Still, there are over 20 houses within 10 miles of me that have burned down....in 3 different directions, but all south.