Megafires and Why They Keep Happening

[GirlySports]

I don't know anything about this at all.

As a newbie, the Alberta fires make sense (dry climate, July heat, not near an ocean) but the LA fires don't make sense (neutrally humid, January, near an ocean)

Mathgod: Is LA more dry than Calgary?

[MelBridgeman]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

I don't know anything about this at all.

As a newbie, the Alberta fires make sense (dry climate, July heat, not near an ocean) but the LA fires don't make sense (neutrally humid, January, near an ocean)

Mathgod: Is LA more dry than Calgary?

The hot dry winds coming in from the desert called the Santa Ana winds is the missing link as to why it doesn't make sense.

[Fuzz]

https://www.weather-us.com/en/califo...ngeles-climate




https://www.weather-atlas.com/en/canada/calgary-climate


Lots more stats to compare at the links.

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by Mathgod

The Palisades were established more than a century ago, and the Santa Ana winds have existed that entire time, yet this catastrophic fire didn't happen until now. So if that area is the yearly conflagration you say it is, why didn't a fire like this happen a long time ago?

Regarding the claims made against the political leaders of California. This article debunks it for the most part. While it's true that more forest management is needed, this particular fire was mostly spread by chaparral (good luck removing all chaparral from the entire state every year...)

One question I have... the SA winds are not dissimilar to the chinooks we get here... so why don't we get a similar fire situation here as they have there? I think the answer is that southern Alberta/Sask is cooler and more moist than southern CA. Hence the reason to slam the brakes on climate change... the hotter and drier places get, the more susceptible they become to fire catastrophes.

You are making it sound like this is the first time that LA County has been on fire. It might be the worst fire in terms of structures lost but massive wildfire occur with relative frequency. There have been at least half a dozen massive fires over the last 50 years in the Malibu/Palisades area but most of the time the fires don't destroy many homes and remain in the natural areas of the hills and canyons.

[MelBridgeman]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/la-cou...look-1.7429649

Dry Santa Ana winds of up to 80 to 112 kilometres per hour were forecast to resume on Monday and persist through Wednesday, the National Weather Service said in issuing a "particularly dangerous situation" red flag warning.

Experienced those winds a year ago, they are crazy strong

[Cappy]

I will continue to express the thought that insurance issues will hit us long before the majority agree to deal with climate change issues.

California has been trying to walk the tightrope with insurance for a few years now, striking a balance between affordability and coverage. I think this fire might up end that dance.

I drove through Northern California a few years ago and was astonished at how dry the redwood forests truly were. Massive tinderboxes. Driving 10 minutes outside of SF, SD, and LA is like entering another world

[Azure]

Originally Posted by Harry Lime

It's been years and years of drought, and most of the lakes in the state are dry. This is not surprising.

Weren't the last couple of years in California above average with rainfall and snowpack? Why would the reservoirs be empty?

[Leeman4Gilmour]

Originally Posted by Harry Lime

It's been years and years of drought, and most of the lakes in the state are dry. This is not surprising.

https://cdec.water.ca.gov/resapp/RescondMain

Californian reservoir levels have recovered pretty well over the last couple of years.

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

https://www.weather-us.com/en/califo...ngeles-climate




https://www.weather-atlas.com/en/canada/calgary-climate


Lots more stats to compare at the links.

You do know how relative humidity works and what it means right?

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by Cappy

I will continue to express the thought that insurance issues will hit us long before the majority agree to deal with climate change issues.

California has been trying to walk the tightrope with insurance for a few years now, striking a balance between affordability and coverage. I think this fire might up end that dance.

With the prospect of government-run FAIR insurance becoming insolvent, California may just have to recognize that the insurance industry are the experts on risk, and if they won’t insure a property it probably shouldn’t be insured by the government either.

[opendoor]

Originally Posted by Leeman4Gilmour

https://cdec.water.ca.gov/resapp/RescondMain

Californian reservoir levels have recovered pretty well over the last couple of years.

Yeah, the reservoirs are fine after a couple of pretty rainy years in 2022-23 and 2023-24. The bigger issue is that it hasn't really rained in LA in almost a year, so the landscape is insanely dry.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

You do know how relative humidity works and what it means right?

You asking this question as a response to that post makes me think you don’t…

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by Cappy

I will continue to express the thought that insurance issues will hit us long before the majority agree to deal with climate change issues.

It's kind of funny because it wouldn't be the first time that insurance companies are a proponent for social change. When Englund abolished slavery, it wasn't initially for moral reasons or changes in modern sensibilities. It was because Lloyd's of London was paying way to much insurance out on runaway slaves and the increasing dangers of pirates hijacking slave ships. They lobbied the government to abolish the practice for that reason.

[opendoor]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

You do know how relative humidity works and what it means right?

It's pretty self explanatory. Contrary to what GirlySports was saying, Calgary during its summer fire season is actually wetter and more humid than LA is during its winter fire season.

If there were huge temperature variations between the two places in those periods then you'd have to consider that as well, but LA's winter temperatures are quite similar to Calgary's summer temperatures.

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

You asking this question as a response to that post makes me think you don’t…

I don't know exactly what Fuzz was trying to indicate with his comparison but GirlySports asked if LA was drier than Calgary. Fuzz posted those which I'm guessing is supposed to indicate that LA is in fact drier than Calgary which isn't true because those graphs show relative humidity where relative humidity is the amount of vapor in the air but the max volume of vapor in air is a function of air temperature where warmer air can support a higher volume. 82% in January in Calgary isn't directly comparable to 53% in LA for ascertaining if one place is drier than another.

[GreenLantern2814]

If you look at the global temperatures of this planet over the last million years, you will notice that the planet oscillates by about 12-20 degrees Celsius. Quite reliably, in fact.

You will also see massive, rapid spikes in warming for 5-10,000 years, followed by periods of cold (as low as eight degrees below ‘modern normal’) which last 50-90,000 years.

There have been four times in the last 500,000 years where global temperatures reached higher than they are today, and in each case, a 50,000+ year period of extreme cold occurred directly after.

We happen to be at the very end of one of these rapid warming spikes - maybe we have hundreds of years left, maybe thousands - who can say. I’ve heard that by 2200, Alberta is going to be closer to Northern California, climatologically speaking.

What I would say is, being able to grow crops at scale indoors/with genetic modification to adapt them better to changing environments, and an expertise in the extraction of fuel in extreme cold environments might be a useful knowledge set to have in the next 100,000 years. (And also, advanced solar technology - it all works together.)

That, and trying to make any scientific conclusions, much less formulate global policy, based on a 200 year sample size of rising temperatures (during the middle of a warming period) seems, at best, misguided.

Oh, and finally, polluting our environment is, inherently, bad, and we should, as a matter of public policy, try to ensure our societies operate as cleanly as possible.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

I don't know exactly what Fuzz was trying to indicate with his comparison but GirlySports asked if LA was drier than Calgary. Fuzz posted those which I'm guessing is supposed to indicate that LA is in fact drier than Calgary which isn't true because those graphs show relative humidity where relative humidity is the amount of vapor in the air but the max volume of vapor in air is a function of air temperature where warmer air can support a higher volume. 82% in January in Calgary isn't directly comparable to 53% in LA for ascertaining if one place is drier than another.

Relative humidity is more important in evaluating fire risk and in how human beings perceive humidity.

[DoubleK]

I really hope that the reports that these fires were ignited by power lines are not true.

[shotinthebacklund]

Climate change is perceived in most circles of the wildland fire community as the boogeyman media prop to glaze over they main issues surrounding these fires. Mismanagement.

[Doctorfever]

Originally Posted by DoubleK

I really hope that the reports that these fires were ignited by power lines are not true.

It makes sense that with high winds tree branches could get blown into power lines.

You would think that utility companies would keep trees cut back so that doesn’t happen, but that might be easier said than done.