![]() Part of Palisades Tahoe, the area held their Freedom Fest event this weekend with skiing and snowboarding through July 4. Skiers head down the Weasel run past bare ground at Alpine Meadows ski area in Alpine Meadows, Calif., on Saturday, July 1, 2023. Mammoth Mountain ski area in the Southern Sierra is open this weekend. Skiers wearing shorts frolicked at Lake Tahoe on July 4th. In addition, snow is still covering the ground across many areas in the Sierra Nevada, a rarity for July and August. Try to start a campfire with wood that has been wet from rain. “You get lower flame lengths, and fire doesn’t spread as fast. “If vegetation is wetter it’s harder to ignite,” Stephens said. Right now, Clements said, moisture levels in shrubs, like manzanita and chamise, are higher than normal, running about one month ahead of average. What makes or breaks our fire season is the big fuels - the forests, the trees and the heavy shrubs.” The fact we have more grass isn’t going to make or break our fire season. “They can get on grass fires really quickly, and retardant drops work well on them. “Grass fires aren’t usually a big problem for Cal Fire,” Clements said. So when fires do start, they often don’t spread as fast as in dry years. While rainy winters do cause more grass to grow, fire scientists say they also keep moisture levels higher in soils, shrubs and trees longer into the summer. Summers following wet winters typically have fewer acres burned.” I think they want to make people aware of fires, which is part of their preparedness program. ![]() “The fire agencies say it’s always high fire danger,” said Jan Null, a meteorologist with Golden Gate Weather Services in Half Moon Bay, who helped compile the data. “The abundant rain has produced tall grass and other vegetation that’s dried out already and is ready to burn,” said Cal Fire Chief Joe Tyler at a news conference June 29.īut every year doesn’t bring huge firestorms. ![]() Typically, if a winter was dry, fire officials will say that summer fire risk is high because the landscape is dry and primed to burn.īut if the winter was wetter-than-normal, they’ll regularly say that fire risk is also high because lots of grass has grown up, which provides fuel for fires. If rains start late, or if we have a bunch of wind events, we could still have a big fire.” “When we get to the fall, fuel moistures will be low again. “We aren’t out of the woods,” Clements said. Dry lightning storms, like the state experienced in 20, or a rash of arson fires, or extreme heat waves with hot winds blowing from east to west, could spark big blazes, particularly in September and October, which typically are the most dangerous wildfire months in California. To be sure, big fires are still a possibility, fire scientists say. “And that’s what we’re seeing right now.”Īn onslaught of drenching atmospheric river storms this winter ended California’s three-year drought, filling reservoirs, causing flooding in some areas, and delivering the biggest Sierra Nevada snowpack in 40 years. “My prediction has been that we are going to be below normal for wildfire this year,” said Craig Clements, director of the Fire Weather Research Laboratory at San Jose State University. The statewide average rainfall was 140% of normal. In contrast, all five of California’s mildest fire years over the past three decades happened after wet winters - 2010, 1995, 1998, 20. 9, 2020, at Lake Oroville in Northern California. Firefighters stage along Highway 162 as the Bear Fire heats up again, Wednesday, Sept. The only one that followed a wet winter was in 2017, when fall rains came late in the season and power lines fell in winds, sparking the Wine Country fires in October, and the massive Thomas Fire in December in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. Since 1993, four of the five worst fire years measured by acres burned statewide occurred after drier-than-normal winters. The reason for the state’s good fortune now, experts say, is water. By comparison, one fire in July 2018, the Carr Fire near Redding, destroyed 1,614 structures and killed eight people, including three firefighters. Only four structures have burned statewide in wildfires so far this year and there have been no fatalities, reports Cal Fire, the state’s main firefighting agency. That’s 82% less than the state’s 10-year average and is the lowest of any year since 1998. 1, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. It’s nearly August, but one familiar summer trend has been very scarce this year: wildfires.Ĭalifornia is off to its slowest start to fire season in 25 years.Ī state traumatized by huge fires over the past decade that have burned millions of acres - killing more than 200 people, and generating choking smoke and apocalyptic orange skies - has seen almost no major fire activity so far in 2023.Īs of Thursday, just 24,229 acres had burned in California since Jan.
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