Before? Here in Arizona, we have already lost over 165,000 acres.
To be more accurate, south of Portland. We’ve gotten adequate amounts of water here in northwest Oregon. The Klamath Falls area in southern Oregon is in major drought. In fact, last night was rainy here, as was the day before, and I don’t think Klamath Falls got any. So somewhere in between is where the drought starts in western Oregon.
Thanks; appreciate the correction and clarification.
Here’s the current U.S. drought conditions map (at least, current as of last week). Southern Oregon is definitely in worse shape, but the entire state of Oregon is experiencing some level of drought conditions.
We are in drought conditions way up near the Canadian border. I am dreading the smoke season. Last year was a bit of a respite, but I’m guessing those breaks come much more rarely.
Yeah. Live in a forest in the Colorado mountains. It’s scary. And yep, the smoke from other fires can be bad.
Wandering around spots like Mt. Diablo this spring I’ve been increasingly alarmed by the large number of dead and dying pine trees virtually everywhere you look. The conflagration is primed, we just have to pray ignition sources are controlled.
Last year was a little unusual in the number and frequency of dry lightning strikes - we aren’t necessarily foredoomed to a worse fire season this year. But conditions are absolutely worse. All it will take for it to get really ugly is the flip of a coin.
Of course, that map is from about a week ago. In the last few days we’ve gotten lots and lots of rain here in the Portland area. And will probably get much more in the coming week or two. I don’t know how far south and east this rain extends, but I’d say any drought conditions here are likely over.
Good point, and the “S” that is on that map, over the Portland area, indicates that the drought conditions which were in place as of early last week were “short term” in nature, indicating that a few days of heavy rainfall would have a good chance of ameliorating the water deficit. OTOH, over a lot of the country that’s in drought, the map shows “SL,” meaning that the drought situation is both short-term and long-term in nature.
inciweb Incident web portal Is a great place to look for information about current fires.
The Cornville AZ fire near Sedona has forced evacuations already.
We have a a fire burning outside of Las Vegas in Cottonwood Valley.
The Casitas Fire near Ojai CA is causing some evacuations.
In case folks think I’m exaggerating, here’s some news stories:
California:
Utah:
72 degrees at 6 am and windy. Got to 99.7 yesterday, in Montana. In June. When it’s supposed to be the rainy season. And we’re doing better than most of the rest of the West!
Here is another for you:
Irrigation shut off in June rather than September. I grew up in alfalfa land and that first cutting typically required very little irrigation. That it was a stunted cutting w/ irrigation is scary. Plus, it will be their only cutting.
The Telegraph fire (which forced evacuations before the Cornville fire had started) is the largest fire in recorded state history.
The sky is so hazy that last night I wasn’t able to make out a single star and usually our nights are very dark.
Fire season has only begun, half the state is going to be char by the end of the year.
Too late to edit, but I misread the report, the Telegraph fire is the 10th largest fire in recorded state history. So far, we’ve lost 170,000 acres.
No, our water supply in Portland and the northern valley is mostly driven by snowpack on Mt. Hood. Hood had negative accumulation (i.e., snow was melting, not falling) over the last few days. The rain provided a very short-term benefit in that lawns and fields don’t need irrigation for a few days, but it didn’t really touch the water supply for this summer and fall.
As of last week, Portland was on the edge of moderate and severe drought, and the northern valley (where most of the agriculture is), is squarely in severe. That’s not fixed by an inch of rain.
“Short-term” means over the next six months. Crop failure in 2021 would be considered a short term effect, although we’d think of that as pretty severe. Long term would be things like an aquifer being drained. Short term certainly doesn’t suggest the drought can be ameliorating by heavy rainfall for a day.
Today on my morning outing I noticed that the sky was hazy in all directions. Arizona, to the SE of me, is noticeably worse than any other direction.
Ouch man. I know Las Vegans pretend the rest of the state doesn’t exist but come on.
I expect fires for sure. Along with air purifiers, make sure you have a backup supply of house filters. I got a cleanable one.