They Are Back

by Bryan

9 comments

1 ellroon { 05.03.13 at 11:46 am }

Yeah, our California seasons are Mudslides, Earthquakes, Fires, and Heatwaves…

2 Bryan { 05.03.13 at 2:47 pm }

The fires used to wait until the heatwaves to hit, now they are happening earlier and there are more of them.

3 Badtux { 05.03.13 at 9:31 pm }

We had a really odd winter this year. Early winter was very wet, and lots of brush grew. Then late winter was very dry, and all that brush died — didn’t go dormant (what it usually does at the end of a rainy season), *died*, because it doesn’t go dormant until April and the rains stopped long before then. Result: California is a tinderbox, ready to go FOOOM! at the least little spark.

Add in the fact that we’re having a heat wave right now — it was 95F at the office today (in the San Francisco Bay area!) — and it’s no wonder why California is burning. It’s been so hot that heat-loving Mencken the Cat has been sleeping on the coffee table rather than on his luxuriantly heated cat bed, because the coffee table has air movement on all four sides. It’s supposed to cool down this weekend. We’ll see…

– Badtux the Overheated Penguin

4 Bryan { 05.03.13 at 10:53 pm }

I spent two years in Monterey, and I don’t ever remember a day when it was too hot to wear a windbreaker and long sleeves. If you went inland you’d cook, but not on the coast. I just can’t picture 95° in San Francisco.

My family around San Diego were complaining about the rain around the holidays, but they were also mentioning that what grew would make a wildfire more possible. They switched to drought tolerant landscaping back in the 1980s, so their homes aren’t in danger from the fire, but the air gets really foul. They still have huge stands of eucalyptus trees down there, and those suckers are living gas leaks when it gets hot, because their ‘odor’ is flammable.

It was amazing how fast that Ventura County fire expanded. I’m surprised they haven’t lost more houses.

I had to plug Sox’s cat pad and the heater back in, as we are having a cold front move through, and it is chilly at night.

This is not how things are supposed to be.

5 cookie jill { 05.03.13 at 11:06 pm }

yep.
It’s Tanker Season.

http://calfire.blogspot.com/2013/05/10-tanker-air-carrier-very-large-air.html

6 cookie jill { 05.03.13 at 11:38 pm }

Let’s make it a “WarOnFire” –

http://wildfiretoday.com/2013/05/03/2-military-air-tankers-activated-for-california-fires/

7 Bryan { 05.04.13 at 3:41 pm }

The state should just buy a couple of large tankers and have them flown by the Guard when needed, although heavy-lift helicopters may be more useful than fixed-wing aircraft in windy conditions.

8 Badtux { 05.04.13 at 10:17 pm }

It was definitely 95F today. But the weather at the coast was pretty dismal, it was 60F, windy, and foggy. Sigh. Good weather wasn’t to be found in either place. I guess I should have gone to the mountains, but it’s such a long drive from here…

9 Bryan { 05.04.13 at 10:57 pm }

That really sucks, and does nothing good to your body. A 35° temperature differential really challenges your body and messes with your vascular system, sinuses and inner ear. That’s one of the reasons I avoid places that have set the thermostat really low during the summer – I can’t function reasonably well for an extended period when I go out to the parking lot, and that is ignoring the fact that your glasses fog.