July 30, 2009
Odd Fire Season To Date
It's windy here in the central valley of California. Hot and windy as it has been for the better part of the last month. The foothills are dry, tinder dry bearing dead and downed oak at a level not observed by me personally since the early nineties. The Sierra Nevada Range has been under daily assault by lightning from a Southern monsoonal flow for more than two weeks, recording thousands of lightning strikes.
Cal Fire and the Feds and various county agencies have been expertly picking up nearly every fire start in the State before flames can catch a footing. One of the exceptions is the Knight Fire currently burning 1,643 acres in the Stanislaus River Canyon. A 2,000 acre fire at this time of the year would barely merit a byline in a normal fire season.
I can't recall a fire season this benign as August approaches. California firefighters deserve a break after the record acreage burned last year but this unusual lull this season is almost disquieting.
Record heat, unseasonable winds and constant lightning has not contributed to any degree. Keep fingers crossed that the law of averages does not try to play catch up.
May the quiet remain so.
Cal Fire and the Feds and various county agencies have been expertly picking up nearly every fire start in the State before flames can catch a footing. One of the exceptions is the Knight Fire currently burning 1,643 acres in the Stanislaus River Canyon. A 2,000 acre fire at this time of the year would barely merit a byline in a normal fire season.
I can't recall a fire season this benign as August approaches. California firefighters deserve a break after the record acreage burned last year but this unusual lull this season is almost disquieting.
Record heat, unseasonable winds and constant lightning has not contributed to any degree. Keep fingers crossed that the law of averages does not try to play catch up.
May the quiet remain so.
Labels: 2009 Fire Season
