The Wildfires Out West

I know we all hear about the wildfires out west on the news everyday but here are some pics from someone I know that lives there. This is from his deck.


This is what he had to say about them:

Feeling an atmosphere of impending doom. Woke this morning to the smell of smoke and that eerie orange light that accompanies the smoke from forest fires. It was deathly still, and no birds were singing. The cats even seem to sense that something was wrong.
Although the article says this fire started yesterday, it was started by lightning on July 4th, but, until 2 days ago, was so small that it was allowed to burn; then it suddenly grew to 500 acres by Friday morning and then, by this morning, it had exploded to over 6,000 acres, expanding north and forcing evacuations all the way up to Woodsford.
It's not even "peak" fire season for another month.... The next couple of days are going to be even more interesting as the National Weather Service has just released severe thunderstorm warnings, which they say could bring dry lightning, and, by Monday, flash flooding and the potential for nickel-sized hail and damaging winds.
Not to get too metaphysical about it, but what's been happening out here in the West is like witnessing the wrath of God for us continuing to screwing up the climate. In case you had any doubts, I think that She's really pissed-off, and that's just for starters....

Climate change is real.
 


 It's not something that is going to happen in the future, it's here right now.

Comments

Very true. The chickens are starting to come home to roost. Edmonton is blanketed with thick smoke right now blowing in from the British Columbia wildfires.
It horrible what is happening there now and things will only become worse I'm afraid. Dry lightning is the worst that can happen so I do hope that doesn't happens!

Christer.
Marcia LaRue said…
You talk to any of the super right wing so-called X-tians and they give the same ole song and dance routine about this NOT being climate change because ... climate always changes and has for years ... afterall ... for them, the Earth is ONLY 6,000 years old! And ... they don't want to hear anything different!
Joleen said…
I'm here in Salt Lake City. We're in extreme to exceptional drought. The lakes, including the Great Salt Lake, are drying up. We will be 102 degrees again today. Southern Utah broke the all-time high of 117 last week. We can only water our lawns twice a week for 20 minutes. It's sad to see the parks and home lawns turing brown. Cases of water at the markets are limited to two per customer and shelves are bare (people are tryng to stay hydrated). There are many wildfires burning here and some days, the sky is completely gray/white because of the smoke. The heat causes the ozone level to rise and lately we've been on a "dangerous for sensitive groups" or "danger" level and we are advised not to exercise or even go outside. State employees have days where they have to work at home becuase cars add to the ozone layer. Yes, climate change is real and is upon us.
Here in Idaho, we're getting smoke from the "Boot Leg Fire" in Oregon. Which now over 280.000 acres. Everyone is saying fire season came early this year. We've got the potential for high based showers and thunderstorms starting late tonight through Tuesday. Which for is bad because of how hot and dry it has been.
Guillaume said…
Yes,climate change is very real and I annot wait for the time of bearable summers, long autumns and real winters. On a side note, summmer here is now Hell.
Kay said…
And yet, half the country still won't believe it. Our sea levels are rising and homeowners next to the beach are trying to sandbag the ocean away here in Hawaii. How long can that last?
Mike said…
I wish I could reroute some of the rain we are having in the midwest back out west.
Diane C said…
So frightening, your words and photos say just how awful these fires are. We had moor fires near our house 3 years ago, it was dreadful, the smell and air quality was horrendous, the devastation caused was unbelievable. Our army here in the UK had to help our emergency services.