Northwestern Fires and smoke.

sunvalleylaw

sunvalleylaw

Yep.
Wow. So far (fingers crossed) my direct area has escaped significant wildfire. However, the region to the north in Idaho, to the north and west in Washington, and in many parts of Oregon is really bad. Everything seems to be on fire. Large lightning storms rumbled through the PNW in the last several days. Spectacular, but the results in the dry forests is not so great.

Not sure if you can see this if you are not on facebook, (I tried unsuccessfully to find a non FB link) but check out this map.

https://www.facebook.com/NWSBoise?fref=nf

Up in the Lake Chelan, WA area, many homes are being lost. Also in parts of central, upper, Idaho. I am sure also in other places. Prayers and mojo out for all those folks, and for rain without a bunch of lightning.
 
We had a lot of rain in the late spring and early summer so we have been spared any significant fire this year, for a change. I hope they get some rain through there soon.
 
This has been yet another really bad year for drought and huge fires. I hope things improve, and soon.

http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/Home/RegionalDroughtMonitor.aspx?west

palmer_drought_720x486.jpg
 
we, right here in the Sawtooth National Forest area (Sun Valley, Stanley, and surrounds) got some reasonable rain in May/June, and some decent thunderstorm rain without fire starts throughout the rest of summer. And so far we are doing ok. But further west in the central mountains to the north, and up in the northern panhandle, things are bad. Watching even Western WA, known for being wet, it seems they have been drier and warmer than us. Which is really unusual. Some weather phenom called the "Blob" is out in the ocean affecting things apparently.
 
Supposed to be a super el nino this winter, so any burned areas will be prone to mudslides. If it aint one thing...
 
335clone said:
Supposed to be a super el nino this winter, so any burned areas will be prone to mudslides. If it aint one thing...
Click to expand...
Yup.

The fires up North right now are staggering in scope. Serious mojo to everyone up that way. My older brother and his wife just in the last few months moved to Oregon from Florida and he's been telling about his trips from Portland down to Medford where it's been close to 110 degrees several times this year. That is just crazy. It's one thing to see temps like that down here, or even in the Utah/Wyoming high desert, but Medford?

The real "fire season" for us down here hasn't yet even started and we've had quite a few already. Everything is bone dry, when the Santa Ana winds and 100 degree weather of September and early October start, things could get really ugly.

With this massive El Nino apparently brewing, my biggest fear is that we will see exactly the one-two punch combo you mentioned.

The potential exists for an unprecedented series of disasters.
 
335clone said:
Supposed to be a super el nino this winter, so any burned areas will be prone to mudslides. If it aint one thing...
Click to expand...

Yeah but they are hyping the hell out of it so it's likely to be a bust...We need rain of biblical proportions (and snow too) but in 97 I don't recall any hype. And while it is tended to be very wet here during strong El Nino years they really don't have enough stats to be sure that it will. And every time these things get hyped they seem to fizzle (yeah I'm a glass half empty guy...a realist :Wave:)

We had smoke from the Lake County fires here all weekend, pretty thick yesterday. I could barely see the mountains that are only a few miles away from me. Today is better I can see the SC mountains again but still can't see the East bay hills. And Mojo to the firefighters that have to work in those conditions. Hot, painfully dry and windy
 
nuke_diver said:
Yeah but they are hyping the hell out of it so it's likely to be a bust...We need rain of biblical proportions (and snow too) but in 97 I don't recall any hype. And while it is tended to be very wet here during strong El Nino years they really don't have enough stats to be sure that it will. And every time these things get hyped they seem to fizzle (yeah I'm a glass half empty guy...a realist :Wave:)

We had smoke from the Lake County fires here all weekend, pretty thick yesterday. I could barely see the mountains that are only a few miles away from me. Today is better I can see the SC mountains again but still can't see the East bay hills. And Mojo to the firefighters that have to work in those conditions. Hot, painfully dry and windy
Click to expand...
I am usually one who would agree about the hype vs reality thing, but have you seem the satellite thermal imaging comparisons of the Pacific for 97 vs now?

The breadth and intensity of the warm water current is absolutely unreal. Somebody is definitely going to get a metric shit ton of rain come winter.

The question at this point, is whether the size and location of those currents will steer the massive storms it is sure to produce, much farther north than in previous El Nino years. I have read several articles that suggest such a scenario is very possible.

If that happens, all of those northern areas that are burning right now, will be in for a very rough time.

Meanwhile, the drought that is turning SoCal into kindling, will only worsen.

We'll find out soon enough.

If it follows the average El Nino pattern, we are in for a soaker of a winter/spring. Too bad we don't have any reservoirs to save any of it. Instead, it just collects as much shit as it can on its way back out to the ocean, and renders the beaches hazardous for months.
 
OGG said:
I am usually one who would agree about the hype vs reality thing, but have you seem the satellite thermal imaging comparisons of the Pacific for 97 vs now?

The breadth and intensity of the warm water current is absolutely unreal. Somebody is definitely going to get a metric shit ton of rain come winter.

The question at this point, is whether the size and location of those currents will steer the massive storms it is sure to produce, much farther north than in previous El Nino years. I have read several articles that suggest such a scenario is very possible.

If that happens, all of those northern areas that are burning right now, will be in for a very rough time.

Meanwhile, the drought that is turning SoCal into kindling, will only worsen.

We'll find out soon enough.

If it follows the average El Nino pattern, we are in for a soaker of a winter/spring. Too bad we don't have any reservoirs to save any of it. Instead, it just collects as much shit as it can on its way back out to the ocean, and renders the beaches hazardous for months.
Click to expand...


Yeah, it is going to be bad somewhere this winter. Very likely to be right here as it was in 82 and 98. We can take it again, but anywhere that has burned will be in great danger.

socal is taking it especially hard because of bad decisions going back more than 100 years to the Ca water wars. The land simply cannot support a fraction of the population. Sf has a similar problem but we get and store enough rain locally to help us get by when hetch hetchy gets low.
 
  • Like
Reactions: OGG
I agree that it's going to be a soaker someplace too. But there really isn't tons of data on what very strong El Nino's do. Everyone around here is getting all excited that this will end the drought (and the roofers are having a boom year right now as people prepare for the rains). I hope they come but it's not the guarantee a lot of folks think it is. One thing is probably true, big droughts tend to end via big floods. Either way it's going to be bad for some folks but the prospect of another year of drought is much worse I think than a winter of torrential rains (though not if you are in a flood prone area I imagine).
 
We sure could use a good snow year here in SV. And so far (fingers crossed, knock on wood) fire season is not right here. We have already dealt with the runoff and flooding/landslides, etc. of the last big fire. So we could use the snow here. We would be glad to have it in lieu of the places that are newly burned.
 
My parents live just South and South West of the Clearwater Complex, Lawyer Complex, and Syringa fires up in Idaho. As far as I know they're not in imminent danger, but they sure are seeing the effects. A couple of my friends from high school have been putting updates on Facebook too - a lot of people are going to have a lot of rebuilding to do. :(
 
Punchy said:
My parents live just South and South West of the Clearwater Complex, Lawyer Complex, and Syringa fires up in Idaho. As far as I know they're not in imminent danger, but they sure are seeing the effects. A couple of my friends from high school have been putting updates on Facebook too - a lot of people are going to have a lot of rebuilding to do. :(
Click to expand...
Yeah, even here in SV, it is not super pleasant right now with the smoke. I am sure it is worse for them. Best to your folks. Where are they, Grangeville area?
 
sunvalleylaw said:
Yeah, even here in SV, it is not super pleasant right now with the smoke. I am sure it is worse for them. Best to your folks. Where are they, Grangeville area?
Click to expand...

Yeah, a couple miles up the mountain from town. They should be safe, but like you said, the smoke is pretty horrible.
 
^^^^ @Punchy

Looks like this here right now. Normally you can see that ridge quite clearly against a deep blue sky. Worse to the north than to the south, at least visually, right now. Moderate air quality level. not great but could be worse. I am going to risk a short road bike ride at easy pace, easy terrain, after only getting out on walks the last two days. I bet it is worse up near your folks, by a long shot. Doesn't look like any rain for a while, darn it. May be dealing with this for a while, and continue to be at risk for more fire.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top