Fires can be beneficial by removing ladder fuels, but they are not a valuable maintenance force in the deserts I frequent. Here, fire is destructive and recovery requires decades to a century. Rising temperature and drought will make recovery slower. It’s been so dry lately that the introduced invasive species haven’t produced much fine fuel this year, and though the cause is suspect, the outcome might be good.
robertscribbler
It’s been a ridiculously hot Winter and Spring for most of Western and Northern Canada. And in many locations, odd, Summer-like conditions are already starting to dominate. For these regions — areas sitting on piles of dry vegetation or thawing permafrost — a single hot day, thunderstorm, or even just the melting away of the Winter snow is now enough to spur the eruption of wildfires.
In Fort St. John, along the shores of Charlie Lake in Northeastern British Columbia and at about the same Latitude line as Ft. McMurray in Alberta, temperatures on Monday rocketed to 28 degrees Celsius (about 82 degrees Fahrenheit). These scorching readings were about 20 degrees C (36 degrees F) above average for the day. The excessive early-season heat sweltered an area that had seen extensive drying throughout a long, warm winter. And nearby grasses and crops became a ready fuel as Monday’s…
View original post 628 more words
