What the numbers tells us about a catastrophic
year of wildfires
The Dixie fire burned close to a million acres in
California’s Lassen county over three months and became the first fire to cross
the Sierra Nevada.
A historic drought and record-breaking heatwaves
combined to spark blazed that burned nearly 7.7m acres this year
Gabrielle
Canon in Los Angeles; Graphics by Rashida Kamal
Sat 25 Dec
2021 06.00 EST
2021 proved another disastrous fire year for the
American west.
Amid a
historic drought and record-breaking heatwaves, wildfires that erupted across
the US burned close to 7.7m acres. Some broke records that had only recently
been set. And while the amount of land burned this year didn’t reach 2020
levels, a troubling new trend emerged: fires are getting harder to fight.
“With the
conditions we saw this year and everything leading up to it – historic drought,
these prolonged dry, heatwaves – everything together made it a very challenging
year,” said Aitor Bidaburu, a wildfire program manager for the US Fire
Administration. His biggest takeaway on the blazes “was just the intensity with
which they burned”, he says.
A
firefighter works as the Caldor Fire burns in Grizzly Flats, California, on 22
August 2021.
From
Siberia to US west, wildfires spewed record carbon emissions this year
Read more
The
statistics tell the story of a fire season that now stretches far into the
year, fires that have grown more ferocious, and climatic conditions that are
causing the blazes to behave erratically and dangerously.(…)
Christmas storms hit California with much-needed
snow and rain
State says snowpack now between 114% and 137% of
normal across Sierra range while southern areas get much-needed rain
Associated
Press in Los Angeles
Sun 26 Dec
2021 16.01 EST
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/dec/26/christmas-storms-california-snow-rain
A major
Christmas storm caused whiteout conditions and closed key highways in the mountains
of northern California and Nevada, with forecasters warning that travel in the
Sierra Nevada could be difficult for several days.
Travelers
use their baggage for seats near the Southwest Airlines baggage carousels in
Denver International Airport.
Rainstorms
also continued to hit parts of southern California. The conditions were
difficult but welcome developments in a parched state where the Sierra snowpack
had been at dangerously low levels after weeks of dry weather.
The state
department of water resources reported on Christmas Eve that the snowpack was
between 114% and 137% of normal across the Sierra range, with more snow
expected.
On Friday
night into Saturday, 20in of snow fell at Homewood on Lake Tahoe’s west shore.
About a foot was reported at Northstar near Truckee and 10in at the Mount Rose
ski resort on the southwest edge of Reno.
A 70-mile
stretch of Interstate-80 was shut on Sunday from Colfax, California, through
the Lake Tahoe region to the Nevada state line. The California transportation
department closed other mountain routes while warning of poor visibility and
slippery conditions.
Rockslides
caused by heavy rain closed more than 40 miles of coastal Highway 1 in the Big
Sur region, south of the San Francisco Bay Area. There was no estimate for the
reopening of the scenic stretch that is frequently shut after wet weather.
“Expect
major travel delays on all roads,” the National Weather Service (NWS) office in
Reno, Nevada, said on Twitter. “Today is the type of day to just stay home if
you can. More snow is on the way too!”
The NWS
issued a winter storm warning for greater Lake Tahoe until 1am Tuesday because
of possible “widespread whiteout conditions” and wind gusts that could top
45mph.
The latest
in a series of blustery storms hit southern California with heavy rain and wind
that flooded streets and knocked down power lines late on Saturday.
Gusts
toppled trees, damaged carports and blew a track-and-field shed from a Goleta
high school into a front yard two blocks away, according to the Santa Barbara
county fire department. No injuries were reported.
More than
1.8in of rain fell over 24 hours in San Marcos pass in Santa Barbara county,
while Rocky Butte in San Luis Obispo county recorded 1.61in, the NWS said.
In the San
Bernardino Mountains, east of Los Angeles, crews were repairing a section of
State Route 18 that washed down a hillside after heavy rain on Thursday. The
closure of the major route into the Big Bear ski resort area could last for
weeks, officials said.
Los Angeles
international airport said a “storm-related electrical issue” forced a partial
closure of Terminal 5, causing passengers to divert to other terminals.
“Cancellations
and delays are possible, so it will be important to check your flight status
today if flying through Terminal 5,” LAX tweeted.
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