Rolling Western U.S. Is On Fire / Wildfires Thread

Yeah, I was in Berkeley for a conference during the last few days of that fire, it was...horrible, just abysmal air quality, and here we were— a load of writers and queers taking smoke breaks despite the AQI.

was that the day the sky was orange all day long? ... I smoked, but didn't do any physical labor ...

AQI of 126 today in gene OR, good times

*Eugene

careful with that axe, gene

Sorry sleeve, Oakland is very nice today! Only a little over 70 ... both in AQI and temperature

Sarahell, I don't recall the skies. They were quite yellow. But the fire we were talking about was in 2017…

Smoke from the Sierra fires advanced on Los Angeles this morning like it was a goddamn mothership

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E__6AJ3VIA0CGum.jpg

I saw this at lunch and thought, "That looks like smoke but I don't smell a fire, hope I don't have Covid."

thirty years ago today:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oakland_firestorm_of_1991

looking like northern California's fire season might end this week. fingers crossed.

yes

now we will have flood season

boulder, colorado, december 30 2021

https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/30/weather/colorado-wildfires/index.html

"Marshall fire explained: How we got 115 mph winds in Boulder County on a December winter day"
https://www.denverpost.com/2021/12/31/marshall-fire-explained-firestorm-colorado-weather/

ever earlier

Eleven large wildfires are currently burning across the Southwest and Southern Plains, with some 8 million U.S. residents under fire alerts. https://t.co/6plChJvQcf

— Democracy Now! (@democracynow) April 21, 2022

The entire southwestern US is in severe drought. Still.

very windy and extremely hot today in slc.

so far no fires but it just feels bad, you know

did you see https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/07/climate/salt-lake-city-climate-disaster.html?

yes

paywalled though

the word that comes to mind is 'desertification'

Alaska is on fire.

https://fire.airnow.gov/#

not great

hope my friends in Oakridge are OK, they got an evac order

i have a hunch that this year we're gonna get epic flooding then epic fires.

It’s El Niño so it’s certainly going to be warmer

https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/471/227/dd0.png

thread is about wildfires not flooding but i need to put this somewhere

29" SWE. As Utah officially surpasses the estimated 1952 levels, those concerned with flooding can learn more about risks and other state resources by going to the @UtahDPS emergency management page: https://t.co/gfkjF2yFlE #utwx pic.twitter.com/jHQQ62QUXr

— NRCS Utah (@NRCS_Utah) April 4, 2023

All the rainfall/storms will definitely lead to more fuel by the summertime - grasses and underbrush, and fallen trees and limbs

But the rain may have helped some of the drought-stricken pines

doubt i'll see this much snow again in my lifetime.

hope you are not in a danger area for snow melt flooding

i think we're far enough away from the creek. we'll see how bad it gets.

Canada too, although maybe that’s a different thread.

this'll do for now

we've already had two in Oregon within 50 miles of us

Quite visible and smellable in Brooklyn this evening

I forgot to look up but my daughter told me about the big red sun. And a friend of ours that hasn’t been posting recently just told me about all the smoke in Ottawa.

Actually we can smell it now too here in Queens.

yeah i mean it was shortsighted of me to limit this to the western us

Smoke smell not quite as unpleasant as what it was in downtown Brooklyn right after 9/11 but why compare?

Feeling it on my eyes. Not sure if psychosomatic, doubt it.

https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/toronto-ottawa-covered-smoke-wildfires-2023-06-06/

The Canadian capital of Ottawa, which neighbors Quebec, was covered in haze on Tuesday morning, with air quality in category 10+, the worst level on Environment Canada's Air Quality Health Index, indicating "very high risk".

ottowa, welcome

Lots of headlines saying nyc’s air quality was “the worst in the world” this morning.

I’m caught a bit flat footed… not sure what to do other than close up the apartment, keep the dog walks brief and hang out inside.

It’s weird how it wasn’t apparent to me walking around Chinatown all afternoon but taking the dog out an hour later was yikes.

I didn’t notice until this evening.

ah ye, finally, been long looking forward to my first fire season wherein I have one lung

Ugh, sorry.

looking a little better in Montreal this morning, but the last two days were p depressing (not as bad as Ottawa though)

This explains why the early mornings have looked so apocalyptic here of late.

Sund4r told me he drove back from Toronto to Ottawa the other day and basically was welcomed in the middle by giant cloud of black smoke into which he drove. Had to wear a mask in his car. And then in his apartment.

Well now it’s drifted down to DC.