Alstein
4818
Expecting about 6" of rain here, and the workload that comes with it for me.
LeeAbe
4819
I know it’s silly to whine about this with all the problems that people are having because of weather/fires, but this smoke really needs to go away. 7 days now of not going outside and all my widows closed up. In Seattle it’s not supposed to clear up until Saturday, but I was reading that there is a lot smoke just swirling over the Pacific, so it will come back again eventually even if the fires are controlled.
Normally, yes. But this is 2020. Barbara Walters is probably rolling in her grave.
Nesrie
4821
We’re expecting rain soon but… thunderstorms. Thunderstorms are problematic. It would be really great if they were wrong about that.
Also, about the smoke. It’s awful, whether you’re threatened by fire or not it is a horrible experience.
CraigM
4822
Yeah, we are on day 11 here of not being able to go outside and… it sucks. We were under 300ppm briefly on Monday before climbing back to the 400s. Today we finally got down to 192, which is the lowest I’ve seen.
Looking at thunderstorms starting roughly 8pm from here to Salem. Which, as @Nesrie said, is a mixed bag right now. I really hope the rain helps clean out some of the air though, and the thunder risk is greatly overstated.
Last night while making dinner I burned the garlic bread (due to fussy kids) and the resultant smoke from the oven gave me a headache. Problem was I couldn’t even open the door to clear out the kitchen air, since that would make things worse!
Smoke is still a health risk; you can rant away, as far as I’m concerned.
KevinC
4824
Sorry to hear that, Craig, that sucks. Hoping the rain outweighs the lightning strikes tonight.
CraigM
4825
Given current conditions it is definitely the mother effing weather.
Last night much of north and central Oregon got rain. Thunderstorms to be precise. Hooray, rain on the Riverside and Lionshead fires! Boo, flash floods and lightning!
However as of right now the lead for the state fire response indicates the rain helped more than the wind and lightning hurt. So with more rain today, we might be ok soon.
The air is still bad, but we are finally under 200ppm, registering as low as 160 this morning by me. I can almost go outside without making the house smell like campfire.
Nesrie
4826
I can see clouds today and some blue in the sky. First time in a couple of weeks. They currently believe the Almeda fire was man made, but the dry conditions, the wind… weather turned it into a crisis.
Nesrie
4827
It’s really windy today. That plus the heat and of course a fire is what did us in just a couple of weeks ago.
I don’t think I’ve ever had my nerves as frayed as I do know what is normally a not major weather event.
Obenchain fire is at 70%, or was… old report and can’t find a newer one. Hopefully that is enough not to turn that into a nightmare again.
CraigM
4828
Yeah, the best I can find indicates that efforts have transitioned to managing the current fire, without much expectation of growth to threaten areas, and the evacuation levels have been decreased. Not out of the woods yet, but no longer the ‘holy smokes this is bad’ it was a week ago.
EDIT: seems the story is a bit different for the Riverside and Beechie Creek fires, those are still under heavy containment activity.
Is it going to rain this week Nesrie? My mom is heading to Portland and said it would rain all week.
CraigM
4830
It’s raining right now in Portland, in fact.
Source: my window
Nesrie
4831
I just don’t understand why they can’t keep people updated on these fires. It doesn’t seem like it’s been threatening, but we didn’t have winds like this until this afternoon.
Yeah there are several not in great situations in CA too.
This fire season cannot end fast enough.
According to the forecast we should get some scattered showers tomorrow. Last week, the rain was so scattered it was like ten drops, and I missed it. Tomorrow is the only day they’re expecting it though. back to 90s again by Monday.
Even with the fire contained and everyone going through the damage, we’re still prone to light up like a torch. Everything is so dang dry and the river, lakes and underground sources so low.
I heard that draining the aquifers will cause the tree roots to grow longer to get to the water and the trees will be stronger.
No I didn’t.
Nesrie
4834
Not a huge fan of videos but there are some good shots here of the path of the one fire.
Still doesn’t do the damage actual justice. Fire starts in Ashland, moves North. Mom was outside the city limits of Ashland but technically Ashland. What was… weird is a lot of people tried to get information from Ashland. That’s a more responsive and friendly group but they didn’t have in, the fire didn’t’ touch that city like it did the other two or the outskirts.
Nesrie
4835
For those who might be interested in water pumps, fire hydrants and what happens when you so many going at once. It’s not long or detailed but just a reminder how not advance we are with the most basic freaking things.
Nesrie
4836
The other thing that is cropping up now that people are getting their insurance claims cleared, rummaging through property, some with the help of Sumaritan Purse, is information about safes.
I haven’t seen an official number but the rumors are that fire burned at somehwere between 2400 and 4500 degrees (F). The better safes are rated at somewhere around 1200 F for 1-2 degrees. The safes that did survive, what was in them did not. A few gun safes still had coins and guns and the guns were okay, some of them, the coins but nothing else alongside them.
Some jewelry survived and a local jewelry place is reminding people not to throw them out even if they looked ruined. They can restore many of them.
Father and Son’s Jewelry I believe.
Spare keys, didn’t survive. Cash gone. (psst don’t store cash like this. Those who ran, some could at least grab wallets and purses); if the safe isn’t big enough the thieves just take it anyway.
I thought Phoenix lost a bank. I have not heard if any of their boxes survived.
This one was rated at 1850 (rumor):
And everyone thinks it was in the floor. A local man picked it up and carried it for an older couple. That one looks like some things might be okay.
I think I need to go shopping for a safe to put in the crawl space.
Are you going to store all your guns in it? Will your M40 fit?
