gdanmitchell
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khurram1 wrote:
Ordinarily by this time of the year, wildfires are under more control - is this year worse for you guys?? every year we see reports of wildfires in California, but it sounds like it’s worse this year.
I'll take the risk of replying to an off-topic but important question. Even compared to the very bad fire situation of the past few years here in California (and the West, really), the current situation is essentially off-the-charts bad.
Vegetation throughout the state is at record dry levels, is in "never before measured this low." Aside from the coastal areas (where I live), temperatures have consistently been above average, sometimes by a significant amount. In a normal year there would still be some snowpack left in the highest parts of the Sierra, but it is essentially all gone. Water rationing is either already in place or coming very soon to many areas of the state. Central Valley farmers continue to dig deeper and deeper wells, emptying aquifers and causing land settling that in some places amounts to many feet of elevation change.
Because of the dryness and heat, the fire season started early and with some exceptionally large (as in record-breaking) fires. The Dixie fire is one of those — it started well down on the west side of the range and crossed the crest to descend to US 395 and beyond on the east side. As I type this the Caldor fire has burned to the crest and is crossing it near the south end of Lake Tahoe. Mandatory evacuations and evacuation warnings are already in place in parts of the Tahoe basin.
The "fire season" in California has never been precisely bounded, but in the past the scariest time was typically from perhaps the second half of August through perhaps the middle of October. This is due to a combination of seasonal drying, heat, and the arrival of our "offshore" (from the northeast) seasonal winds that bring hot and dry conditions. Let's say that this was perhaps as long as about eight weeks in the past. This year the fire conditions (absent the offshore winds, which is a scary observation by itself) were dire by the beginning of July, perhaps six weeks early. Last year the danger period extended well into November or, arguably, even December. So instead of an eight-week danger period we are now looking at potentially twice that long or more.
I've lived in California for decades and I've traveled around the state for most of my life, including a lot (a whole lot!) of time in the Sierra. I've seen fires before, and I've seen their aftermath. But I've never seen anything close to what is going on now. It is quite scary, actually.
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Would the snow in the corners still be darker/grayer?