Climate change California wildfires worst in recorded history

[Maciamo]

Check this on BBC News. Wilfires have been ravaging California for over a month. There is currently 1000 acres (= 1000 football fields) being burned every 30 minutes. That 48,000 acres per day, about the size of Washington DC. In total 2.3 million acres (9300 km², 4x the size of Luxembourg) have already burned, about 20 times more than in 2019 (118,000 acres) and it's not over yet.

It's astonishing that one third of Californians still deny that the effects of global warming are already occurring. That's more than the US average (50% of deniers), but still baffling considering how first-handedly they can witness it happening. More worrying half of Californians are not willing to pay a bit more for renewable energy. So even among those who accept that global warming is affecting them many are unwilling to take even minor measures against it.

 

[Maciamo]

Yesterday the sky of San Francisco turned orange during day time due to the wildfires, while in Oregon half a million people had to flee the fires.

 

[sparkey]

Orange sky was madness inducing. Not just because of the color, but also because it was very darkening and made it feel like dusk all day.

My uncle was evacuated from his home in Oakhurst. Amazingly beautiful place. When it's not on fire.

I think there's some reluctance in California to pour resources into addressing global warming because we don't see it as high bang the for buck. That might sound crazy with all of the wildfires, but our problems with wildfires go beyond the increases in temperatures, including problems with forestry, burning restrictions, development into the forests, etc. Plus the cost here to drive a car is already much higher than most places in the USA. Still cheap compared to Europe, but it's something like double the cost of gas than in places like Texas. And even if we stop all carbon emissions, we're still affected by everyone else because the problem is, of course, global.

 

[Duarte]

BBC News Brazil

What is a pirocumulonimbus, the dangerous 'artificial' storm cloud created by fires

NASA - cloud due to fires was captured by NASA satellites

As it happens every year, parts of California have recently turned into a burning hell: hundreds of people have had to be displaced, the air has been filled with particles of pollution, properties have been destroyed, forests and entire cities have gone to ash.

In 2020, however, fires and smoke not only darkened the sky in much of the state, but also generated unusual meteorological phenomena: from fire tornadoes to storm clouds due to smoke.
One was recorded last week and, according to NASA, may be the largest in the history of the United States.

It is a gigantic pyrocumulonimbus, an "artificial" cloud generated by smoke that spread for 15 kilometers over Fresno County and could be seen from space, through satellites of the American space agency, but which was also observed by plane passengers crossing the area.

According to the American space agency, it even blocked the visibility of its satellites over parts of California on September 6, making it impossible to monitor the evolution of fires from space.