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treeswarper
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treeswarper
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PostTue Jun 06, 2023 7:44 am 
timberghost wrote:
What about soil and fuel moisture?
Well, you want a certain bit of moisture in the soils whilst burning slash, so the soils don't get too hot. At the same time, you want slash to be red so it will burn. One chases the snowpack. For the rest of the usual "experts". Other than that, it really doesn't matter what the soil moisture is. If you've got a ton of red and dead lodgepole pine standing with lots of deadfall, and a nice wind blowing (like today) it can burn. I have used a match to get the crowns of dead, standing lodgepole to burn in the middle of winter. It doesn't take much if it's a dry stretch of winter. And note: I was on snowshoes at the time due to the deep snow. There was no wind at the time and the tree was standing away from others so I was confident the fire would not spread. In the Up Nort woods of the Midwest, they light the "paper" on paper birch but there is no crown to flare up. These are activities to make the day a bit more interesting while trudging in the snow day after day working. It's called "fun" by the participants and you wouldn't understand unless you experienced the drudgery. Apparently I learned a bit by participating. I've not got a lot of fire experience, but have some. And it isn't soil moisture that one worries about. It's all about the fuel moisture, loading, and wind. Continue reading about it. That's a hell of a lot easier than experiencing it.

What's especially fun about sock puppets is that you can make each one unique and individual, so that they each have special characters. And they don't have to be human––animals and aliens are great possibilities
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Joey
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PostTue Jun 06, 2023 7:45 am 
Red flag warning today for *west* slope of Cascades. Click red area and follow link for details. EDIT: If the map does not display the red area, then zoom in one step and it should appear.
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Anne Elk
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treeswarper
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treeswarper
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PostTue Jun 06, 2023 7:53 am 
Pyrites wrote:
Gifford Pinchot noting an 8 acre and spreading fire this morning in Iron Creek campground. Called Type 3 overhead team etc. If your not familiar this is a few miles S of Randle, on asphalt including interior loop, flat terrain, on the Cispus. Not exactly the sticks.
Damn! Campgrounds are generally fairly fire proof as folks pick up sticks to burn, and that campground is heavily used. It also has private timber lands nearby. There are some big trees in that campground. I imagine they'll swarp it unless the wind goes crazy like it has been on this side of the mountains.

What's especially fun about sock puppets is that you can make each one unique and individual, so that they each have special characters. And they don't have to be human––animals and aliens are great possibilities
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Logbear
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PostTue Jun 06, 2023 8:32 am 
jinx'sboy wrote:
Soil moisture had NOTHING to do with that fire behavior. (10 bonus points if you can guess what did!)
Weather! Predictive Services list three sides of the "wildfire behavior triangle". While fuels and topography are two sides, weather is the third, and will override the other two when weather conditions are extreme.

“There is no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing.” – Sir Ranulph Fiennes

treeswarper
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Schroder
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PostTue Jun 06, 2023 11:54 am 
Wildfires are poised to scorch more land than ever in Canada this year
Quote:
By Laura Dhillon Kane Bloomberg Canada is on track to see its worst-ever wildfire season in recorded history if the rate of land burned continues at the same pace. The country is experiencing an unprecedented amount of fire activity for this early in the season, scorching approximately 3.3 million hectares (8.2 million acres) — almost double the area of Lake Ontario — so far this year, according to Canadian government officials. That’s 13 times more than the average in the past decade for the same period. “Year after year, with climate change, we’re seeing more and more intense wildfires and in places where they don’t normally happen,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Monday at a briefing in Ottawa. “This is a scary time for a lot of people.” Some 413 active fires are burning across the country, from the westernmost province of British Columbia to Nova Scotia on the East Coast, prompting 26,000 Canadians to evacuate their homes. The most out-of-control blazes are raging in Quebec. Officials blame climate change for increasing the frequency and intensity of wildfires. The federal government is projecting the potential for higher-than-normal fire activity across most of the country through to August. Warm and dry conditions will increase the risk in June, particularly for the area stretching from B.C. to western Quebec. “It is, in a word, sobering,” Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said. “Every province and territory will need to be on high alert throughout this wildfire season.” Trudeau’s government has approved requests from Quebec, Nova Scotia and Alberta for federal assistance, including deployment of Canadian Armed Forces members. Firefighters have been mobilized between provinces to help in areas where they are most needed, and hundreds of personnel have been sent from the U.S., Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Costa Rica. Canada has the resources to fight the wildfires if they continue along the projected trajectory, according to Trudeau. If the situation becomes worse than expected, the government will turn to its contingency plans, including leaning more on international crews. Provinces and territories share responsibility with the federal government for wildfires. Officials pointed to federal initiatives, including strengthening emergency management capacity in First Nations communities. Canada has also spent C$346 million ($258 million) on firefighting equipment and training of community-based firefighters.

Anne Elk
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Cyclopath
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PostTue Jun 06, 2023 12:49 pm 
This is horrific. And it's getting worse as the years go by.

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Pyrites
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PostTue Jun 06, 2023 4:22 pm 
Ski, I’d say the one factor not predicted thirty years ago was the marked drop in nighttime humidity. If someone was discussing this I missed it.

Keep Calm and Carry On? Heck No. Stay Excited and Get Outside!
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Cyclopath
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PostTue Jun 06, 2023 5:15 pm 

Anne Elk
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Anne Elk
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PostTue Jun 06, 2023 5:43 pm 
Pyrites wrote:
the one factor not predicted thirty years ago was the marked drop in nighttime humidity.
Are you referring to Washington west of the Cascades specifically? I'd guess that has a lot to do with the huge change in lowland ground moisture, ie, areas that normally are snow-free, or mostly so, by April. Before our summers became so much hotter and drier there was a lot more deep soil moisture that contributed to night time humidity. I can remember when we sometimes had summers with more sun in September than June thru August combined. In recent years lowland gardeners and landscapers have had to deal with soils so parched that they've become hydrophobic. I've seen it in the city where I'm a volunteer gardener and we can only water once a week. But I've been reading for ages that this is happening all along the coast: Fog that nourishes California redwoods is declining. This is why I find the Palmer drought index so handy as a general gauge (link is to actual USA index). Not so accurate for this discussion relative to fires at higher elevations since its algorithm doesn't deal well with snowpack and frozen ground. Our native plants are struggling mightily at lower elevations because of increasing soil dryness. From Wikipedia:
Quote:
The Palmer drought index...uses precipitation and temperature data to study moisture supply and demand using a simple water balance model ... of soil moisture. Supply is comparatively straightforward to calculate, but demand is more complicated as it depends on many factors, not just temperature and the amount of moisture in the soil but also hard-to-calibrate factors including evapotranspiration and recharge rates. Palmer tried to overcome these difficulties by developing an algorithm that approximated them based on the most readily available data, precipitation and temperature. The index has proven most effective in determining long-term drought, a matter of several months, but it is not as good with conditions over a matter of weeks. ... Palmer's algorithm also is used to describe wet spells, using corresponding positive numbers. Palmer developed a formula for standardizing drought calculations for each individual location based on the variability of precipitation and temperature at that location. The Palmer index can therefore be applied to any site for which sufficient precipitation and temperature data is available. ... The Palmer index's inability to account for snow and frozen ground is cited as a weakness.
Seattle city gov't is now on a big push to preserve city trees and plant more, realizing at this late date that tree canopy helps keep the city cooler. Of course this runs contrary to their goal of more density. But they haven't made allowances for the increasing drought. I see so many city trees stressed and dying because no one waters them, especially on city property.

"There are yahoos out there. It’s why we can’t have nice things." - Tom Mahood

Cyclopath
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PostTue Jun 06, 2023 5:58 pm 
Anne Elk wrote:
In recent years lowland gardeners and landscapers
When I go for walks around the neighborhood I'll stop and talk to people working in their gardens. Everybody keeps saying they can't believe how late they had to water last fall, and how early this spring.

Ski, Anne Elk
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Cyclopath
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PostTue Jun 06, 2023 7:56 pm 
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Schroder
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PostWed Jun 07, 2023 9:45 am 
Time to buy a couple of more room air cleaners before they're all sold out

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treeswarper
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treeswarper
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PostWed Jun 07, 2023 11:04 am 
Schroder wrote:
Time to buy a couple of more room air cleaners before they're all sold out
According to my niece, the box fan with furnace filter bungeed on works well.

What's especially fun about sock puppets is that you can make each one unique and individual, so that they each have special characters. And they don't have to be human––animals and aliens are great possibilities
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Joey
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PostWed Jun 07, 2023 11:06 am 
Near real time image from the GOES East satellite.
View larger size in new window

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Pyrites
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PostWed Jun 07, 2023 4:29 pm 
Nighttime humidity deficit. Much of the globe. What it’s really being called is vapor pressure deficit.

Keep Calm and Carry On? Heck No. Stay Excited and Get Outside!
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