U.S. Braces for Even Worse Wildfire Season

[marmar]

This Creative Commons-licensed piece first appeared at Climate News Network.

LONDON—The firefighters are primed, hoses at the ready. May and June are often the peak months for forest fires in the southwest of the US, and the outlook for this year is grim.

“I wish I could have some hope,” says Dr Wally Covington, director of the Ecological Restoration Institute at North Arizona University. “It’s just a terrible situation in southern California.”

Covington, an internationally recognised expert on forest restoration, says a prolonged drought, higher temperatures and stronger than usual winds mean big wildfires are inevitable across the southwestern US.

The main season for wildfires in the region has in the past been from mid-May through till late September, but now forest fires burn virtually year round.

Vulnerable landscape

“Climate change and misguided forestry policies have combined to present a landscape very vulnerable to devastating fires,” Covington told the Climate News Network. ...............(more)

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/us_braces_for_even_worse_wildfire_season_20150503

[brewens]

1. I don't think we are in too bad of shape here in my part of north central Idaho. As long as we

get the usual wet finish to spring. I call it the monsoon season and it is technically monsoonal weather patterns. Thuderstorms build up over nearby mountains and let us have it in the afternoon.

If things dry out soon though, we're in trouble again. By mid August, it can get pretty nasty in the valley where I live. Smoke was really bad last year. Then as soon as that was done, farmers burning fields.

[cilla4progress]

2. I'm in what's called "north central Washington,"

but is actually east of the Cascades. I live in a high mountain valley that tapers into wilderness.

We have our share of wildfires here - in fact, we lost our home here in '94 due to one.

We've done everything to create defensible space, which is a continual effort. We built our home with very fire-resistant materials and design elements.

We've been smoked out the past few summers, and the largest fire ever in the state's recorded history was a couple valleys north of us, last summer.

I'm frankly terrified for this summer. Such a shame, because it is truly lovely here, otherwise ...

[brewens]

3. My girlfriend was south of your area working our business at a biker rally. I can't remember

which one or what they called the place it was at, but that fire really killed attendance. Probably took $500 out of my hide all the way over here. Plus it was a miserable weekend for her and her brother.

[cilla4progress]

5. Ellensburg / Cle Elum

area, I would guess.

Miserable, indeed ...

[seveneyes]

4. Not just climate change and misguided forestry...fracking

Fracking put more water underground rather than where it should be - on the surface helping alleviate these problems.