1/3/2024 0 Comments Cal fire map of dixie fireThe conditions may also cause incident commanders to take a fresh look at strategies they've relied on. That means both living and dead vegetation in the forest is drier by the peak of fire season, inviting the massive, explosive fires the area has been experiencing. "As temperatures rise, the evaporative demand by the air increases, increasing the propensity of the atmosphere to act as a giant sponge and extract water from the landscape," Swain said in an email. "Unless there is a big increase in precipitation to compensate for that effect - which there has not been - this dries out soils faster and to a greater extent than would otherwise be the case." "It's indicative of how hot that fire is," he said. National Weather Service meteorologist Shad Keene, based in Medford, Oregon, said that cloud is unusual for nighttime. More: From fire clouds to fire tornadoes, here's how wildfires can create their own weather The Reno weather office retweeted a photo Tuesday from weather spotter US StormWatch showing a tornado-like column of fire. "Incredible fire behavior late last night on the #DixieFire making it's own weather," the Reno office posted on Twitter, adding that there was lighting and large fire whirls.Īn ALERTWildfire web camera showed images of a pyrocumulonimbus cloud that stretched into the night sky Aug. “Hotter means that literally the flame lengths may be longer, or the vegetation is more receptive to spot fires,” Swain said. For the same time period last year, 5,636 fires had consumed 430 square miles.Ī “constellation of factors” that include climate change, denser forests due to a history of fire suppression and extreme drought are triggering more intense and faster-moving wildfires, said Daniel Swain, a National Center for Atmospheric Research fellow and climate scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles. In 2021, there have been 6,272 fires statewide that have burned about 1,432 square miles, according to California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection latest weekly statistics. The 2021 fire season is on pace to explode past 2020, which was a record-setting year in California as 6,718 square miles burned. On pace for record-setting wildfire season They point to climate change, grinding drought on a parched landscape, record heat waves and a near-term forecast that includes waves of heat, wind and possibly lightning.ĭixie Fire: The California wildfire has destroyed nearly 900 buildings hot weather could hinder firefighting efforts "We have angry fire on a landscape that makes it very difficult to contain."Ĭlimate scientists and meteorologists offer little hope of improving conditions. "We're probably six to eight weeks ahead of what the normal fire season is. "We have extreme, critical drought - as we're all aware of," said Rocky Opliger, an incident commander on the Dixie Fire, at a recent community briefing. In the near term, the waves of heat, wind and potential lightning are set to make firefighters' tasks even more difficult as they seek to protect thousands of homes and beloved outdoor spaces. As more than a half-dozen major fires blaze across drought-parched Northern California, the weather outlook is so bad experts are predicting some may continue to burn until late fall or early winter rains arrive. Watch Video: Dixie Fire becomes largest single blaze in California history
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