Discussion»Statements»Rosie's Corner» The CALDOR fire in northern California grew TWENTY TIMES BIGGER from Tuesday to Thursday forcing 10,000 to evacuate. WHAT NEXT?
Currently, 36,000 Californians are evacuated due to wildfires. And that number grows each day. From the McCash fire in the north to the French fine in the south. Smoke from these fires now covers the entire state at some elevation in the atmosphere. Nearly 75% of northern and central california are cloaked in thick smoke. Winds are forecast to increase tomorrow across NorCal, greatly exacerbating already existing fires (especially the Caldor fire), and making new ones likely to occur.
It looks like the fires won't stop until it either rains heavily or all fuel is consumed. Since the rains no longer come until November or December, and strong north winds occur in September and October, we may have to evacuate the state to Nevada and Utah by halloween.
Nothing like getting information from the center of things Shuhak. Thank you so much for detailing what is going on in your part of the state. Saddening because we know it will get worse. Are you still OK? I mean I know that can change minutely it seems but your lungs. What is happening to them? Today the high here will be 84! Next Thursday it is predicted to be 105. We are getting a respite from the high temps which is helpful. You don't seem to be getting a respite at all from anything. SIGH. I'm so sorry. Happy Saturday to you and yours Shuhak! :)
In the mornings we have heavy ground smoke, but milky blue skies. By early afternoon the smoke is so thick there's no sun; and we still have moderate to heavy ground smoke. Everything constantly smells like a chimney flue. The smoke is playing havoc with temperatures. Over the last several days we've struggled to even reach the low 80's (80-83) due to the thick smoke. At night we get an easterly downslope wind which helps thin the upper smoke by pooling it at the surface (especially in valleys). This allows overnight temperatures to cool down to the upper 50's. As the smoke thickens during the day, the sun can't warm things so we stay "cool". Here it is 1 pm and it's only 78 out. They were saying we might clear out some smoke this weekend, but now they've reneged as the fires are growing over 8 miles per day. The latest report stated that it wasn't so much the winds that were driving the fires, rather the overabundant dry fuel.
Right now it's 65 here. This year it seems to cool down at night which is very helpful. Our skies so far this year are clear. But it's still early in the fire season so we aren't expecting that to last. Climate is going nuts everywhere or weather or whatever you want to call it. Wreaking havoc. Mother Nature picked a terrible time to show her anger at us. Almost everywhere there is a something terribly awful happening. Not right here where we are. We are, so far, so very lucky. What's ahead? Beats me! Take care m'dear. Thank you for your reply Shuhak! :)
This post was edited by RosieG at August 22, 2021 10:37 AM MDT
Miracle of miracles! We actually had stars last night! And the full moon was bright and yellow, not red and/or obscured. This allowed the temperature to drop to 54. Even so, I opened the house up. AIR!! Alas, it was short lived as the smoke rolled back in around 3. Once again we have white overcast skies with heavy ground smoke ... and it smells like wet campfire ashes. According to the smoke forecast map, the smoke may clear out again later this evening... but then roll back in heavy around 3 or 4. Of course that map changes every hour, so who knows what'll actually happen.
65 is bearable (unlike 105). Enjoy it while you can.
Small windows of respite are nice of course but are they enough? As we read down here pretty all of northern California will be on fire...which includes you. New ones show up and the old ones keep doubling in size. There has to be end there somewhere but what gets destroyed getting there? Right now it's 65 and our high today is predicted to be 92. It's just so weird. We get these breaks in temp this year but I remember when we had weeks at time of triple digits no breaks. A result of Climate Change? I dunno but we had SOUP with our dinner yesterday. Yes it was that chillery! I mean less air conditioning required so that's a good thing. Hope your today is good/pleasant/safe. Thank you for your reply Shuhak. SIGH.
They're better than nothing. Gives me a chance to "air out" the house.
Unfortunately, that may be the case. They've now shut down ALL national forests in NorCal - NO trespassing! (I think the fine is $1,000- $10,000). They are trying to do all they can to prevent any new fires as resources are stretched thin. Since there's no thunderstorms, all new fires have to be human caused.
65 is downright cold! Even though it's actually a nice temperature, were so used to cooking. 92 is somewhat tolerable (compared to 102). These cool nights really help firefighters (we asked God to help and perhaps this is His way of answering). This mid august. The overall climate is starting to shift towards winter. Less sunlight means not as much time for the un to cook us and more time for the heat to escape at night.
Well we have a little bit under a month till Autumn..per calendar it begins September 22. But are "Indian" summers which I think means hot weather extending through part of autumn. Right now it is 61. The high today is forecast to be 93. Our nights cool off quite beautifully compared to other years. WHY? I can't figger it out! We've had SOUP two days in a row...NO JOKE. SOUP! One was a chicken noodly thing I made from scratch and the other a multi-vegetable thing I made from scratch. Whatever veggies/beans/grains I have leftover from dinners go into soups right away or in the freezer to use later. As a result we have a lot of multi-veggie multi-bean multi-grains in one form or another. But SOUP in AUGUST? I cannot remember that EVER? What gives? Thank you for your reply Shuhak! :)
Indian summer - "A period of unusually dry, warm weather occurring in late autumn." (might have to rename that, the new "California summer."
Your soups sound good.
Technically - there's a long-wave trough off the coast transporting cooler air from the north down nearly the entire california coast. The ENSO (El-Nino Southern Oscillation) is currently in neutral, but is starting to shift towards a La Nina (70% chance of a La Nina by November).
English translation - "the wind changed, and darned if we know why. Plus, our forecast dart landed on the square marked 'La Nina'".