Hey California
- Thread starter Mith
- Start date
Thanks for your concern!
I'm 400 miles north so no worries here. Up here we have had forest fires (in merchantable timber, up in the mountains) but I think our fire season is just average.
You are right about the lack of rain. The Los Angeles region is a desert, normally under 15 inches of rain annually and it doesn't rain from early May until a few showers about now. But this was the driest year in history, 3.21 inches total for the year July 2006-June 2007. http://home.att.net/~station_climo/LACV0607.GIF
That whole region is dry desert like you see in cowboy movies, and some of it is steep. Nothing stops the fires when they are pushed by the hot Santa Ana wind that blows in from the southwest desert, farther inland. The 'Santa Ana' is feared, when it starts it always means trouble.
Many residential neighborhoods are built right next to the National Forests, which down there means steep dry desert sagebrush that nobody ever tried to farm or even graze. Then the fire comes up out of the canyon or down from the ridge and there is no way to defend the houses. The Santa Ana's were blowing over 100 mph, 160kph, so the fire front kept leaping ahead. I saw a report where a 10 lane freeway was not a sufficient firebreak, the fire was blown across and started up the other side.
Today they are hopeful for declining winds. One report I read yesterday said a commander had 100 planes but couldn't fly them because the wind was too rough.
Its a mess. I've seen reports of a half million homes ordered evacuated, and a half million people ordered out in just San Diego County. (which isn't as large as Los Angeles County.) This is dozens of unrelated fires all at once.
Our Northern California firefighters are down there, Mexican forces from Tijuana were offered and accepted immediately, and many fire commanders still don't have the resources to cover their communities.
Fire news, Los Angeles Times:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/breakingnews/
The lead story is a good summary and several following stories are interesting.
I'm 400 miles north so no worries here. Up here we have had forest fires (in merchantable timber, up in the mountains) but I think our fire season is just average.
You are right about the lack of rain. The Los Angeles region is a desert, normally under 15 inches of rain annually and it doesn't rain from early May until a few showers about now. But this was the driest year in history, 3.21 inches total for the year July 2006-June 2007. http://home.att.net/~station_climo/LACV0607.GIF
That whole region is dry desert like you see in cowboy movies, and some of it is steep. Nothing stops the fires when they are pushed by the hot Santa Ana wind that blows in from the southwest desert, farther inland. The 'Santa Ana' is feared, when it starts it always means trouble.
Many residential neighborhoods are built right next to the National Forests, which down there means steep dry desert sagebrush that nobody ever tried to farm or even graze. Then the fire comes up out of the canyon or down from the ridge and there is no way to defend the houses. The Santa Ana's were blowing over 100 mph, 160kph, so the fire front kept leaping ahead. I saw a report where a 10 lane freeway was not a sufficient firebreak, the fire was blown across and started up the other side.
Today they are hopeful for declining winds. One report I read yesterday said a commander had 100 planes but couldn't fly them because the wind was too rough.
Its a mess. I've seen reports of a half million homes ordered evacuated, and a half million people ordered out in just San Diego County. (which isn't as large as Los Angeles County.) This is dozens of unrelated fires all at once.
Our Northern California firefighters are down there, Mexican forces from Tijuana were offered and accepted immediately, and many fire commanders still don't have the resources to cover their communities.
Fire news, Los Angeles Times:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/breakingnews/
The lead story is a good summary and several following stories are interesting.
Sure it will grow back. The desert plants are adapted to fire as an environmental factor.
But it will grow back as ugly as it was before. I did a quick Google search for photos of the typical terrain. The background in this set shows the native terrain: http://good-times.webshots.com/album/560992494IvVpAu
Explanation - they are playing with their 4x4's in late summer in a dry reservoir. Note the reservoir waterline and the dry steep ground above it - there's no place to drive a firetruck on that hillside! (SoCal runs on stored water, most of it shipped down there 400 miles from us via huge aqueducts).
This set shows how the urban area is right next to the canyons and mountains. That's a great backyard view - when it isn't on fire.
Winter photo. That's about as green as it gets, and it only lasts a couple of months before it drys out again. Still ugly.
Imported irrigation 'made the desert bloom', and fortunes were made in agriculture before the urban area spread out to areas like this. Azusa is 25 miles east of Los Angeles, and one focal point of the fire. I chose it to illustrate because the dry mountains rise right up out of peoples back yards.
Looking for these photos I noticed the current temperature there is 97f, 36c. Still late summer. Fire season isn't over yet.
But it will grow back as ugly as it was before. I did a quick Google search for photos of the typical terrain. The background in this set shows the native terrain: http://good-times.webshots.com/album/560992494IvVpAu
Explanation - they are playing with their 4x4's in late summer in a dry reservoir. Note the reservoir waterline and the dry steep ground above it - there's no place to drive a firetruck on that hillside! (SoCal runs on stored water, most of it shipped down there 400 miles from us via huge aqueducts).
This set shows how the urban area is right next to the canyons and mountains. That's a great backyard view - when it isn't on fire.
Winter photo. That's about as green as it gets, and it only lasts a couple of months before it drys out again. Still ugly.
Imported irrigation 'made the desert bloom', and fortunes were made in agriculture before the urban area spread out to areas like this. Azusa is 25 miles east of Los Angeles, and one focal point of the fire. I chose it to illustrate because the dry mountains rise right up out of peoples back yards.
Looking for these photos I noticed the current temperature there is 97f, 36c. Still late summer. Fire season isn't over yet.
A month later and Malibu is burning again.
Photos:
http://news.yahoo.com/photos/sm/events/us/102107malibufire/p:1
News story:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071125...a_wildfires;_ylt=AhBHvXj69gx2.Z.mneevVUSs0NUE
Photos:
http://news.yahoo.com/photos/sm/events/us/102107malibufire/p:1
News story:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071125...a_wildfires;_ylt=AhBHvXj69gx2.Z.mneevVUSs0NUE