I woke up today and felt the long hot spell we have been having these last few month and realizing where I live on the coast it hasn't been warm enough to pull the moisture bringing fog on shore from the ocean yet much. And usually now we are getting a whole lot more rain than we have already this rainy season. Although there was flooding in late November and early December that wasn't enough to prevent what is happening now. So, even though there is still wild grass 1 to 2 feet and in sometimes 3 feet in the wilds of the forest and the ferns are green in the Coastal range where there are wild oaks and pine trees and Redwoods a lot I worry about the trees and how many years coastal forests can survive in such a long drought. I believe this one has been now about 5 to 7 years of varying degrees of drought. I think now however we are beyond at the very least a 100 year drought cycle and into something more severe and hopefully not more permanent.
Though it's good that the wild grasses are only 1 to 2 feet in Northern California and wild flowers have been out starting since about January (very strange) I hope we get more rain before the usual stop off point of May or June because otherwise the late summer and fall is going to be even more awful for inland California just like last year or possibly worse.
This is the image of 1 hour ago. So, around 11 am it was in the 60s on the northern coast of California
https://images.search.yahoo.com/images/view;_ylt=AwrTcc0eHQtVo8gAV2MlnIlQ;_ylu=X3oDMTB0ZWVkYm84BHNlYwNzYwRjb2xvA2dxMQR
However, it seems much colder than normal for this time of year east of about Las Vegas and then to the north. It's almost like the east coast has been through a mini-ice age this winter. And supposedly, spring is coming on the 21st of March. But, where I live spring arrived in January along with the first wildflowers here in California. But, my favorite ski lift never opened on Mt. Shasta. There should be 5 feet or more snow there now but there hasn't been enough to open at any point this whole season: And this likely is the fact of life for most California ski resorts as well unless they made their own snow when it was cold enough to do that.
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TERRAIN CAM
Infographic: Western Wildfires and Climate Change
Rising temperatures are increasing wildfire risk throughout the Western U.S.
Panel 1: Wildfires and Wildfire Season
- The number of large wildfires —
defined as those covering more than 1,000 acres — is increasing
throughout the region. Over the past 12 years, every state in the
Western U.S. has experienced an increase in the average number of large
wildfires per year compared to the annual average from 1980 to 2000.
- Wildfire season is generally defined
as the time period between the year’s first and last large wildfires.
This infographic highlights the length of the wildfire season for the
Western U.S. as a region. Local wildfire seasons vary by location, but
have almost universally become longer over the past 40 years.
Panel 2: Rising Temperatures and Earlier Snowmelt
- Temperatures are increasing much faster in the Western U.S. than
for the planet as a whole. Since 1970, average annual temperatures in
the Western U.S. have increased by 1.9° F, about twice the pace of the
global average warming.
- Scientists are able to gauge the onset
of spring snowmelt by evaluating streamflow gauges throughout the
Western U.S. Depending on location, the onset of spring snowmelt is
occurring 1-4 weeks earlier today than it did in the late 1940s.
Panel 3: Future Projections
- The projected increase in annual burn area varies depending on
the type of ecosystem. Higher temperatures are expected to affect
certain ecosystems, such as the Southern Rocky Mountain Steppe-Forest of
central Colorado, more than others, such as the semi-desert and desert
of southern Arizona and California. Every ecosystem type, however, is
projected to experience an increase in average annual burn area.
- The range of projected temperature
increases in the Western U.S. by mid-century (2040 – 2070) represents a
choice of two possible futures — from one in which we drastically reduce
heat-trapping emissions (the projected low end of a lower emissions
pathway) to a future in which we continue with "business as usual" (the
projected high end of a higher emissions pathway).
Methodology
The Western Wildfires
and Climate Change infographic is based on careful evaluations of
published scientific research and publicly accessible federal wildfire
data.
Learn more about the methodology and assumptions behind the infographic.
Rights and permissions
You are free to use and post this infographic without alterations
online, in written materials, and in presentations. We request that any
online use includes proper citation and a link to this web page.
end quote from:
www.ucsusa.org/.../impacts/...wildfires-climate-change.html Cached
Wildfires are increasing, wildfire season is getting longer, and climate change is playing a significant role. A Union of Concerned Scientists infographic.
The following is Coyote which is the highest elevation black diamond lift and run at Mt. Shasta Ski Park in northern
California right now:
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COYOTE CAM
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