While not a full-bore media hype yet, there are the beginnings of chatter on blogs and Twitter that the Colby fire in Southern California might somehow be related to “climate change”. NASA MODIS has this image and explanation:
Colby Fire Near Los Angeles, California
A wildfire started and spread quickly in the foothills northeast of Los Angeles on January 16, 2014. The plume of ash and smoke blanketed much of the metropolitan area and prompted air quality warnings.
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra and Aqua satellites captured this images of the Colby fire:
According to InciWeb, the fire started around 6 a.m. Pacific Time on January 16 in Angeles National Forest near Glendora, California. As of 3 p.m. local time, nearly 500 firefighters were working the fire, which had destroyed 1,700 acres and at least two homes. Fire officials were concerned about gusty winds and extremely low humidity that could promote fire growth.
References:
- InciWeb: Incident Information System (2014, January 16) Colby Fire. Accessed January 16, 2014.
- Los Angeles Times (2014, January 26) Colby fire: Plume of smike, ask prompts air quality advisories. Accessed January 16, 2014.
- Los Angeles Times (2014, January 26) Wildfire near L.A.: Firefights brace for wind gusts, heat. Accessed January 16, 2014.
NASA image by Holli Riebeek and courtesy LANCE/EOSDIS MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC. Caption by Michael Carlowicz.
Source: http://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/colby-fire-near-los-angeles-california/
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So before we get into the blame game of climate change, it might be worth noting that it appears the fires were started by some pothead campers.
Three men arrested in accidentally setting the highly-dangerous Colby Fire plaguing Southern California were found with pot in their backpacks, according to local reports. They are being held on $500,000 bail, according to police Sergeant Michael Hammond at the Glendora Police Department. According to Police Chief Tim Staab, the three men did not set the fire purposefully: “It wasn’t an arson. They are charged with a crime but part of it is criminal stupidity.”
http://www.truthrevolt.org/news/3-arrested-ca-fire-had-pot-backpacks
Hey Janice,
Big smile right back atcha. TRuthfully, both my pot and booze days are behind me, though I’ve done my fair share and more over my lifetime. Always been a pretty fierce libertarian when it comes to what a person chooses to do with his or her own body. The “war on drugs” so-called has been a spectacular failure, which is not only not a surprise, it was entirely predictable. As predictable as the failure of “Prohibition,” which was of course a misguided attempt to outlaw booze…a drug… as surely as pot is…thought infinitely more destructive in its effects. So what happened during those years? Alcoholism increased, organized crime flourished, corruption was rampant, and otherwise good, law abiding people woke up one morning to find themselves considered criminals…
Imvho, far greater damage is done by the proscriptions against drugs than the drugs themselves. All we need do is take a gander at Mexico where at last count some 60,000 innocent people have died…collateral damage in an insane war on the drug cartels. Does it not occur to these people that the cartels would not exist without the laws against individual drug use? 60,000 people!!
Forgive the diatribe 🙂 Yes, writing from south Florida where to tell you the truth we could in the last few days use a bit more of that life sustaining blessing called global warming. Not cold compared to more northern climes of course, but 50’s and windy. If it’s not 80 and humid I’m not happy. My wife thinks I’m insane. I suppose she has a point…
If they were drinking beer they could have used it to put out the fire. Beer! It’s not just for breakfast anymore.
“The men had grown cold and placed more paper into a campfire when the fire grew out of control. ”
Well there have it, global warming !
If it wasn’t so damn cold, due to global warming, they would not have needed to light the fire.
All roads lead to Rome. 😉
…unless someone can make the claim that global warming is fueling the strong LaNina driving out current drought…
Good to hear back from you, Poker Guy! What a joy it is when someone bothers to respond to me. 50’s and windy?!! That is HORRIBLE (given where you are). I would be pretty annoyed at….. at just oooooooooooooo………… . Just annoyed. You might as well be in Seattle (ugh).
Well, before long, it will be lovely again, no doubt. Then……….. you can have fun in a hurricane! Wheeee. Weather is great, huh?
Meh. Being insane’s not so bad…., not all it’s cracked up to be, but, not bad.
#(:))
btw: what Mrs. Guy is silently asking herself is: “And, am I insane to stay with him?” (smile, smile, smile!) Heh. Don’t worry — she would have gotten out a loooong time ago if she were ever going to.
Take care and ENJOY FLORIDA!
Janice
@Steve from Rockwood…
Actually had me laughing out loud. As in ALOL…Very funny.
This is supposed to be the rainy season — January is typically the wettest month in SoCal, and the hills are usually Irish-countryside green by now.
Instead, it hasn’t rained a drop since the first week of December, and it’s been bouncing in and out of the eighties since Christmas. This really is “weird weather.” But it happens, and it’s a direct result of the same kink in the circumpolar vortex that’s been freezing the East. When they’re unusually cold and snowy, we’re unusually warm and dry.
Doesn’t have to be intentional to be charged with felony arson in California. Simply having a camp stove flame get away from you in a red flag area will get you charged with arson. That actually happened to someone I know who was making some coffee on a camp stove and somehow got some nearby grass on fire. He got it put out but not before someone had called authorities. He was charged with felony arson as fires of ANY sort were not allowed in that area due to red flag warnings.
One of the commentators on local L.A. TV kept going on about how we can expect more hot dry weather because scientists say there’s global warming. He mentioned it every time they went to him.
I was just about to post the following comment but DirkH beat me to it. 🙂
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This reminds me of the fire in Israel a few years back. It was initially blamed on ‘climate change’ but was found later to have been started by a Green who burned her toilet paper after use for the sake of the environment.
Thanks, Janice. Always enjoy your lively contributions. And always respond to people I respect. Mrs. Guy no doubt thinks she made a mistake, but she’s stuck with me now. And yes, warmer times to come…here through March when average high toward end of month is 77. Speaking of insanity, I can likely tell you…without looking up of course…the average high temps for any given winter day. How obsessive is that, he asks rhetorically.
No wildfires in Amsterdam.
You know? I remember one of Lews’ observations pointed out that Skeptics believe that Princess Diana was murdered AND commit suicide at the same time. Needless to say the theory was completely demolished by ClimateAudit (http://climateaudit.org/2013/11/13/another-absurd-lewandowsky-correlation/)
However, something interesting always pops up ..
Global warming proponents seem to believe in many more than just two scenarios – global warming can produce extreme cold AND extreme heat at the same time. Perhaps Lew should consider writing another paper soon.
Global warming made it warm enough to grow pot further north….
What effect does a La Nina have on SoCal’s rain and heat? (It seems as though a La Nina might be in the process of forming.)
California is the US state that warmed most last year, countering an overall cooling US trend, according to this recent WUWT thread:
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2014/01/16/ncdc-state-of-the-climate-report-contiguous-us-average-temperature-plummeted-2-9f-in-2013/
@ur momisugly Jimbo (re: 2:35pm) I have no doubt that you would, too. (not sarcastic) Heh, heh, you and Dirk, neck and neck, but, I think Gail is one car length ahead. btw: I was actually going to TRY to not post as often. Well, we can all see how long THAT New Year’s resolution lasted… .
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Hm. I wonder why there are no wildfires in Amsterdam.
(okay, okay, Mr. Knights, I get your point, but, being D.U.I. (whether alcohol or what-EVER) is likely to be a significant cause, here).
I wonder…. if those drug dealers (or whatever they are) had been drunk instead of high if all the pro-mind-altering-drugs (not you, Poker Guy, you’re just libertarian) people would have jumped to the defense of the alcohol industry.
Why defend the pot industry so vehemently, here?
They were (if this is correct) high on dope.
That was a contributing cause.
We pointed that out.
So — what? Why get THAT defensive about pot?
We couldn’t say “those lousy stinking drunks,” you know.
Horrible joke
Do you know what’s great about dating the homeless?
You can drop them off anywhere.
Stupid laws don’t prevent stupid people, it seems to provoke them.
gnomish said:
January 17, 2014 at 1:30 pm
up your racist agenda, mark.
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Although they race across the border, illegal alien isn’t a race 😉
Mr. Knights! What has gotten into my usually strongly anti-AGW ally?
“California is the US state that warmed … .” Did it “warm” or was it just relatively warm? Was it warmer in CA in 2013 than in 2012? The NOAA map for 2012 has “115” on California. The 2013 map has “108.”
Hoping all is well with you. Correct my grammar or spelling, okay (yes, indeed, you are good at editing and I regularly need it!)? Then I’ll know my ally Roger Knights is doing just fine. #(:))
Janice
@pokerguy. On a serious note I’m either a victim of over-reporting or Californians have developed an extreme tolerance to disaster. There seems to be an endless series of wind-fueled forest fires and landslides with the occasional earthquake just to make things interesting. It makes me wonder how people ever get insurance in these areas. No wonder they’re insistent on rolling their own.
rogerknights says:
January 17, 2014 at 2:41 pm
MattN says:
January 17, 2014 at 12:36 pm
See, if CA would just legalize it, they wouldn’t have had to go out in the woods to smoke their weed and this fire would never have happened….
No wildfires in Amsterdam.
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Roger. Probably not much natural forest either.
australia has more than it’s fair share of arsonists:
17 Jan: Australian: AAP: Arsonists light Victorian urban fringe fires
Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Ken Lay said police believe 12 of the 68 fires burning across the state were deliberately lit.
Most of those fires were sparked on the urban fringes of Melbourne, including three grass fires in Epping, in the city’s north…
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/latest-news/arsonists-light-vic-urban-fringe-fires/story-fn3dxiwe-1226804218933
18 Jan: News Ltd: AAP Inside the deranged minds of Australia’s fire killers
http://www.news.com.au/national/inside-the-deranged-minds-of-australias-fire-killers/story-fncynjr2-1226804590736
To be fair, the evolution of global circulation to the point it is now at, may in fact be a type of climate change. After it, it is highly abnormal for the jet stream to be stuck in a meridional configuration for this long without either smooth or step wise retrograding. Now, if we consider just what sort of climate change might be implied, I suppose the warmistas might not like the outcome. Nor would most people.
A dry California will turn into a mud flow when the rains come. All those deep washes were formed by something other than dry air.
Steve from Rockwood says: No wildfires in Amsterdam. That is the dutch for you, built your country 20 ft below sea level.
Fire starts,
Open the dykes and there, no more fire
Pump it dry and start all over again, been doing it for generations (LOL)