2021 summer fires
- Thread starter bcp
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Larry Caldwell
Elite Member
We got a little lightning last night, but nothing over me. I was sitting on the deck enjoying the evening and saw a couple flashes. The first one timed 75 seconds to the thunder, and the second one timed 95 seconds. The first was east of me, the second was NE. That put them in the Cascade foothills. Local news says they are doing air patrols to spot new fires, but I haven't heard of any yet.
Larry Caldwell
Elite Member
We're starting to get some smoke here, so I replaced the $2.30 furnace filters with the $20 electrostatic furnace filters. August and September are the traditional fire season here, so I think they will get a workout.
My wife has asthma, and smoke in the air is more than just a nuisance to her.
My wife has asthma, and smoke in the air is more than just a nuisance to her.
cqaigy2
Super Member
Just a trace up here for part of the morning. Smelled kinda like incense and you could see it lowish to the ground.
ponytug
Super Member
Somehow this smoke seems to really aggravate my body these days.
We have whole house AC, with a great electrostatic air filter. After a recent local and smokey fire, I broke down and bought five 20" MERV13 carbon impregnated air filters to add to a box fan for better smoke removal. I plan on duct taping it together until I see how it does at improving the indoor air quality.
It does make me wonder how the forest floor used to look with more frequent fires, and what that meant for air quality, if lightning caused fires were burning a large fraction of the forest floor every year. (20%, 50%?)
All the best,
Peter
We have whole house AC, with a great electrostatic air filter. After a recent local and smokey fire, I broke down and bought five 20" MERV13 carbon impregnated air filters to add to a box fan for better smoke removal. I plan on duct taping it together until I see how it does at improving the indoor air quality.
It does make me wonder how the forest floor used to look with more frequent fires, and what that meant for air quality, if lightning caused fires were burning a large fraction of the forest floor every year. (20%, 50%?)
All the best,
Peter
ericm979
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I think that good low intensity fires that don't crown out put out a lot less smoke than a full on inferno that's torching the trees. There's just less stuff burning. (there's been a lot of footage on fire twitter lately of backfire operations on the big fires in CA, and those show what good fire looks like)
Historical fire frequency is not hard to find for a given area by looking at tree rings but it can be hard to interpret. One paper looking at fire frequency from 1600-2000 noted that climate didn't have much effect but the amount of burning changed significantly a number of times in that period (not just with our modern fire suppression), so they think it was humans, presumeably burning on purpose with lesser or greater frequency as peoples moved and practices changed.
I think 50% average would be high. Even 20% would mean an average fire frequency of 5 years, which is more like what you'd see in super flammable SoCal chaparral. It would only take a low intensity fire every 10-20 years to clear out a lot of the undergrowth in say a central Sierra forest.
They probably happened with more frequency and less intensity. We've been suppressing forest fires for decades; in regions where there isn't much timber harvesting, that amounts to a lot of built up fuel. It also was never as important back then, people didn't have multi million dollar properties at stake.
If you go here, to the GeoColor animation loop, you can see the flow direction of the clouds and smoke. If you choose the largest number for the loop size, it will be over 1/2 day long.
www.star.nesdis.noaa.gov
Bruce
Sector Images: Pacific Northwest - NOAA / NESDIS / STAR
Bruce
