Here We Go Again

The Finns have been showering Twitter with remarks about you know who.

Finland and Raking

Still making progress on the damned fires.

The one to the south is 96,949 acres, 98% contained, 3 dead.
The northern fire is now 153,336 acres, 80% contained, 13,503 homes destroyed, and 81 dead.

It's supposed to rain a bit today, but may not help much. Of course, if it rained  hard enough and long enough to seriously damp the fire, it could cause horrendous mud slides and floods.

Well, we did get an inch of rain last night - about eight tenths of it in 45 minutes.
They are predicting much heavier rain in the area of the fire to the north, and have issued a flash flood watch for about a million people.

Hasn't been a good year for California. I looked at some historical data and saw that this year has had the largest wildfire since California began keeping records in 1932 (okay, I already knew that). That fire was fully contained just two months ago. As well, the second-largest fire in history was fully contained in January of this year. The record-setting fire for the most destructive, and also for the most deadly, is still burning.

I wonder what the weather is like in Nebraska...

Brass monkeys are scared in Brooklyn. Currently 22 going down to 15 overnight (wind-chills below zero). Tomorrows high is supposed to get up to freezing. But no floods, mud-slides or wiidfires. Or rain or snow.

_Howard wrote:

There are now 76 dead in in the northern fire, and almost 1,300 missing.

85 confirmed deaths, down to 249 missing persons.

Quote :

The town of Paradise was a popular destination for retirees, with people aged 65 or older accounting for a quarter of its 27,000 residents. Most of the victims of the fire identified so far were of retirement age. Last week, 2-3 inches (5-8 cm) of rain fell there and turned ash from the thousands of destroyed homes into slurry, complicating the work of finding bodies reduced to bone fragments.

Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea has warned that remains of some victims may never be found.

88 dead, 25 missing. 153,336 acres burned, approx 19,090 structures destroyed. 52,000 people evacuated. $7.5 to $10 billion insured damages (not a good time to be an insurance company -- or a rate payer -- Merced P&C has already declared insolvency). Fully contained November 25.

in 2014 the Okanogan fires in Washington burned 250,000 acres. In 2012 the Catron fires in New Mexico burned 297,845 acres. In 2011 the Wallow fires in NM and AZ burned 538,049 acres. In 2007 "nearly 500,000 acres" burned in 17 separate fires centered on Simi Valley. 2002 Chediski fire, AZ, 468,638 acres. Fire is a normal occurrence in forests, and helps maintain a healthy balance of old & new growth. The problem comes when people move into the forests.