WaPo has a fascinating radar image of the Creek Fire in California:
A three-dimensional radar rendering of the Creek Fire at peak depth. (Neil Lareau/University of Nevada Reno)
More than 3.1 million acres have burned in California this year, part of a record fire season that still has four months to go. A suffocating cloud of smoke has veiled the West Coast for days, extending more than a thousand miles above the Pacific. And the extreme fire behavior that’s been witnessed this year hasn’t just been wild — it’s virtually unprecedented in scope and scale.
Fire tornadoes have spun up by the handful in at least three big wildfires in the past three weeks, based on radar data. Giant clouds of ash and smoke have generated lightning. Multiple fires have gone from a few acres to more than 100,000 acres in size in a day, while advancing as many as 25 miles in a single night. And wildfire plumes have soared up to 10 miles high, above the cruising altitude of commercial jets.
Anthropogenic climate change has been a long running thread on this blog, and I think we’re transitioning from It’s here in a nuanced way to It’s here and slapping us in the face.
From multiple yearly heat records to derechos to melting ice caps to an appalling wildfire season this year, it sure seems like we’re seeing more and more extreme weather events. Even the abnormally warm winters we’re often seeing here in Minnesota qualifies as worrisome weather events, because the result is our micro-climate creeping northwards. I’m wondering how our farmers are going to adapt to the changing conditions, whether or not it’ll be necessary to change crops – or modify our current crops to better tolerate to the warming climate.
And this means we’re on the long, long water slide of rising average temperatures – please excuse the mixed metaphor – no way to claw ourselves back, or so the theories go, the only question is when will we build the communal will to seriously invest in stopping the dangerous emissions.
And, back to today’s news, here’s Professor Neil Lareau’s radar animation:
Looking back at the #CreekFire's big run up to Mammoth Pool: Here is a radar animation of the explosive #pyroCb plume development. This plume was massive, producing multiple pushes above 12 Km. #CAwx #CAfire pic.twitter.com/lHK8Sud7jd
— Neil Lareau (@nplareau) September 9, 2020
I admit to being fascinated, I just wish it was over something less horrid.
