In this year of drought, our forests are a tinder box waiting for a spark. That spark came from the sky on the last day of July. It reached 108 F in the valley. A major lightning storm rolled across the North State and left numerous forest fires in its wake.
Looking east toward Burney. On the right is smoke from the Day Fire and on the right is the Bald Mountain Fire.
Bald Mountain.
A huge thundercloud forms above the Bald Mountain Fire. Burney Mountain on the right, has a fire lookout on its peak.
The cloud above the fire continued to grow all day as the fire exploded in size. These clouds create erratic winds that cause the fire to spot.
The air tankers bombed the fires throughout the daylight hours. This S2 is on its way to the Coffee Fire.
More fires were burning to the west. This column was from the Coffee Creek Fire.
A new fire called the Eiler Fire took off on the second day. It’s was close to the Bald Mountain Fire. The two fires were threatening the town of Burney. From the valley in Anderson, we could see at least six major smoke columns in all directions.
The beginning of the week brought us a rare and very wet cold front. The rain helped the firefighters get a handle on many of the fires. The same storm created flash floods and mud slides in Southern California.
Wildfire sunsets are a silver lining.
Most of the east side fires are under control now, but several fires in the Klamath Mountains are still burning. We still have a long way to go to reach the end of fire season.
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Reblogged this on Ta hendene til din kjære – se på dem og hold dem hardt Disse hendene skal du følge, leie og lede. Du skal få føle på varmen fra dem og kjenne en inderlig glede. De skal stryke deg og de skal holde rundt deg – de er ikke skapt for å såre i vrede For du skal ikke alene mer vandre. De skal klemme og kose og aldri klandre De skal skjerme deg for det du ikke selv ser. De skal elske og aldri forakte – bare hjelpe når du ber. Disse hendene skal jobbe for at dere skal få det godt De skal gi – og du skal takke for det du har fått. De skal tvinnes sammen i kjærlighet og være ømme og gode og et tegn på inderlighet Hendene du holder er sterke og unge De skal gjennom mye for din skyld når dagene er tunge De skal stryke og klemme og være gode og fromme De skal ruske i ditt hår og takke når dagen er omme Disse hendene skal følge deg gjennom livet. De skal holde fast ved deg og verne om samlivet De skal være hos deg når alle andre har gått De skal aldri slippe men holde fast og tørke tårer når du har grått. Hendene skal bære din ring med rette Den skal skinne og for alle berette Jeg elsker deg! – kan den bekjenne Det er bare en som har maken til denne En dag er hendene blitt ru og grå Hver fure og rynke forteller om livet som bak dere lå Dere kan minnes den dagen i dag – da et livslangt bånd Ble knyttet Og fra denne dag dere gikk Hånd i hånd. and commented:
😄kjempe fin blogg med masse fine bilder❤️
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Thank you for he reblog Lisa!
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Min glede❤️😄 er nydelige bilder og tekst😄
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Tim,
Thanks for the great coverage. With so many forest fires every year in California, how do the redwoods grow so huge?
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Great question Linda! The coastal redwood grow in the fog belt. This part of California is far less likely to have wildfires. However, it can happen. Also, the redwood bark on the old trees can be over a foot thick, which make the trees very fire resistant.
The Giant Sequoias in the Sierra Mountains are evolved to a fire ecology and have very thick bark also. They are at great risk as other smaller trees have grown up around them. This creates a vertical fuel ladder that can carry the fire into their huge crowns. To counter this problem, many of these smaller tree have been logged to create a safe zone around them.
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Wishing you rain.
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Thank Elena,we could use some more. The storm that came through early in the week was very unusual. It was two days of drizzle. We almost never get storms like that in the Summer here. Usually, it comes with thunder storms, then we have more lightning. It is a double edged sword.
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You have so miny forest fires, it’s really ashame! Tankers have a lot to do. Last picture is so beautiful but it is so sad:
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These fires are part of our landscape. It’s like tornadoes in the Midwest. To live here, we live with fire.
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I am dreaming of rain as well…. so scary these big fires. I realize up there the fires come with the storms whilst down here, we have a bit of drizzling fog of late. In fact, the weather has not been “normal” all summer. I am afraid these changes may be long-lasting. 😦
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We get a long term forecast so we can prepare for fire weather. Early this summer, our prediction was for heavier than normal thunderstorm activity in July and August produced from an “El Nino” current. He was right. We are expecting another lightning bust on Sunday and Monday. Hopefully, it comes with rain.
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the sunset is truly spectacular, but wow, what an expense for that benefit.
i am so sorry that so much of your state has been suffering for so long. i hope that the weather patterns change soon and you receive some benevolent rainfall.
z
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Thanks Z. From your lips to God’s ear. 🙂
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Good luck with your fires, I just read that we Australians are sending over a contingent of fire fighters to help out. We really know how it feels to see the fires in the mountains around you, especially here in Victoria. The bush fire sunsets are beautiful, but very scary. Hope they are contained soon. Karen
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Thank you Karen. I think the fire seasons that we get are quite similar to what you have in Australia. This is just destined to be on of those difficult years.
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Spectacular, but scary. It sounds as though you are as prepared as you possibly can be, but nature is bigger than all of us! Some trees having bark a foot thick is amazing … many of our trees thrive on fire, and need it to open the seed cases, while of course others are wiped out. I do hope the fires can be controlled soon.
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I agree, nature is bigger than us and we do get reminded of that now and then. We have a number of fire species with serotinous cones here too. Lodgepole pine and knobcone pine are two that seed in like grass after a fire.
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Your photos are so beautiful. Such a contradiction to damage that spawns these visions.
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Thanks Leslie. What you say is so true. It’s the price of living in a place that fire is part of the ecosystem. Although, we can do things to reduce the effects of the fires if we could just get past the politics.
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Such scary photos. I’m glad it is not something we have to contend with here in the Midwest. We have actually gotten a bunch of rain this week for a change. It was a fairly dry end of July/beginning of August.
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We will likely have another month and a half of fire season. Rain is great, but it usually brings lightning.
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