I guess there is big one near me again.
I live in Fresno, California, where we just ended a record run of (I think) 28 straight days over 100 degrees. Beat the old record of 22 or 23. Sounds impressive, but the average high temp for those days is 99 degrees, and the warmest day in the 28 was 108, which sounds warm but is way off the record.
So, yea, record heat but so close to the statistical norms that it is pretty hard to blame climate change for it.
I would bet Trump got that straight from Devin Nunes.
And it is one of the most stupid things he has tweeted. There are many reasons for the fires and one of them is a result of two years of decent rain. The other is drought caused as in many parts of California the drought has allowed the proliferation of a bark beetle which has killed one hell of a lot of trees. Those trees go up like kindling in fires like this.
Nope. Trump in this case is making this tweet for one reason, and one reason only - to pwn the libs as a method of generating conflict and fire up the base about denying climate change, as well as any environmental laws.
It’s 100% fabrication in every other respect.
Well Nunes has been part of the California GOP that has claimed that the drought is/was “man made”. Anyone who drives either Highway 99 or Interstate 5 in central California has no doubt seen the signs which declare that the drought was “man made”. Trump did attend fund raisers here in 2016.
Yeah, I’ve seen those too when driving to/from family there.
The thing is that CA’s water problems are only going to get worse, and Nunes’ idea of diverting everything for farming as is, will only make things worse.
Does the Central Valley need more water for farming? IMHO, yes and no. I think part of the solution has to be better water management on the part of farmers. Water intensive crops need to be restrained (probably by charging actual costs for water, as compared to grandfathered guarantees from over 100 years ago), and more sustainable farming practices implemented. Additionally, the grandfathered water rights need to be managed better, and eventually gotten rid of in favor of something sustainable.
When so much groundwater is being sucked out of wells during droughts that the land sinks enough to break bridges and overpasses, there’s a problem.
The farmers here have done amazing things with drip irrigation, but they just use so much water. And while people think other industries are just as important it is still Ag that runs the politicians around here. It is where the money comes from. And both sides get it.
I think the thing that locals get upset with is that farmers lose water because the Feds (because of a lawsuit) are trying to put salmon back in the San Joaquin River. That’s a river that hasn’t reached the ocean for 50+ years.
Yeah, and it says a lot about him and his supporters that they would delight in that while knowing women and children literally burned alive in these fires. There are a couple other natural disasters going on in the world right now too maybe they should get their chucks at the expense of those lives and then get offended when someone calls them a monster.
The sky near us is getting intense. One side of the sky looks normal, the other side is a weird orange glow.
In the daytime.
I can see the smoke as a giant plume off in the distance, but not smell it. We are lucky in that most of that bad air is moving north of us, as we are SW of the fire. All the protected green areas around us are or have been on fire this summer.
Geez, I can’t imagine how that must feel, just constant dread. Stay safe!
Oh man, good luck and be safe folks.
Everything is gray here in the south bay. Just this omnipresent haze over it all.
Right, I told my friend, that it’s like someone exhaled their smoke into a dome and covered our valley in it. It’s constant, it’s in everything, hurts your eyes, a risk for anyone with lung issues, and you can’t even see the hills around us, certainly not the mountains.
I have now developed what others have been going through for weeks, a permanent headache almost 2-3 hours after waking each day.
Try strapping an air filter to a cheap box fan, it will filter a ton of air very quickly. Get as high a MERV as you can, you need like MERV16 to capture smoke, but even a low-grade one will help.
I have a pretty large fan, not box but large, in addition to the Dyson filtered fan. I could try using that. According to the sensor the air quality in the house isn’t too terrible but just going out to get the mail leaves a lasting impression. My elderly neighbors are all using masks which they say we should all do actually but maybe the fan will improve things more. I’ve got the extra filters. I got a lot in anticipation. I’m also being told that when this is over I should go get my car air filter checked.
Oh you already have filters and a large fan? Great, grab some duct tape and make it happen!
Facemasks are definitely a good idea when going outside. Dampen them first too.
And if you have any windows or doors with gaps, put towels up against them.
Last night on the local news they mentioned that the city of Mariposa, which is next to the Ferguson fire, closed it’s offices down and sent it’s people home because the air quality in it’s buildings was measured as unhealthy. They were going to have to look at changing out a lot of filters.
You kind of assume the air within your house or business, with everything closed is clean, but I guess that is not the case.
With shift in weather conditions now smoke from the Ferguson complex and other fires which has been settling along the central valley and into the Sierras, will now encroach into the Bay Area which has been mostly spared until now. Was just a matter of time, and with estimates that Ferguson won’t even be fully extinguished until September means it’s going to be a rough couple of weeks if nothing new happens.
The “lack of water causing drought” argument is mostly nonsense–I can understand why certain folks would certainly believe so–but the snowpack in the Sierras is generally proof positive of any kind of good or dry year, regardless of weather or not the water gets to the farms. You can make some kind of sly argument that dry farms -> more heat -> less rain -> drought, but I think that chain of thought is overweighed by overall change in climate, rapid shifting in global weather patterns and ocean temperature and other factors that go waaaaaaay beyond localities.
— Alan
Just replace them yourself. Replacing most newer car cabin air filters is like putting a slice of bread into a toaster level of simplicity. The engine air filter isn’t much more complex. Cost to replace both is usually around $20 if you DIY. :)