Colorado Burning Update

6 Responses to Colorado Burning Update

1. Eric Webb says:

   July 7, 2012 at 12:48 pm

   Wow, every time a warmist opens their mouth about a weather event, the exact opposite happens.

   Reply
2. RexAlan says:

   July 7, 2012 at 1:16 pm

   Yes but it’s still all our fault, don’t you know :).

   It should only rain at night when everyone is sleeping and then only as much is needed. The days should be sunny and warm, but not too hot.

   Reducing man made atmospheric CO2 levels with achieve this nirvana.

   Don’t you know :).

   Reply
3. Andy DC says:

   July 7, 2012 at 2:54 pm

   But the weather is never perfect. There is either too much rain or too little. The alarmists will soil their pants either way. Only if we turn our money over to Hansen and friends right now can we ever hope to recreate the perfect weather from the good old days! And also have Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy arrive whereever needed, exactly on time.

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4. GeologyJim says:

   July 7, 2012 at 6:50 pm

   I drove down the Poudre canyon yesterday and over Stove Prairie Road through the High Park fire area.
   Saw dozens of intact houses and barns in the canyon bottoms, even where the grass had burned to the doorstep beneath the trees. Ridgelines and hilltops were scorched, but lots of forested slopes were fine.
   People who live in canyons are smart/lucky. Water table is higher all the time and fires burn faster uphill than downhill. Despite size, this area will recover quickly and new green grass is already sprouted through the burned stubble
   Recent rains are carrying lots of soot to the rivers (water looks like frothy ink)

   As Rick Parry said during the Hayhoe drought this spring (to much scorn from the media), “The rain will come. It always does”

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5. Steve Tabor says:

   July 7, 2012 at 7:47 pm

   Whenever I hear or see a wildfire heavily hyped in the media, I think of the many times I’ve hiked through burn areas old and new. Invariably the area is never totally burnt. Wildfires are wind-driven. Winds sweep the fire along from ridge to ridge and up and down drainages, skipping whole sections of woods or brush. This is what is known as a “fire mosaic”.

   When the Waldo Canyon Fire is touted as “having burnt 28 square miles”, you know that is an exaggeration. There is still plenty of living vegetation inside the perimeter. It takes months or years for a real analysis to be done, giving accurate figures. The famous Yellowstone fires in 1988, for example, were later found to have burnt only 60% of the area originally reported; 40% of the “burn area” had trees still living.

   You can see this in satellite photos of the Waldo fire, already published. In the photo below (click on or paste in the link), the black is scorched, but the red is living vegetation still intact. Even within the black, you can see reddish tinges and brownish tints. Those represent some trees still living within that zone, a fire mosaic that would show up better at finer resolution.

   Also to be noted: Until you get the full investigation, you don’t know how much was burnt by the wildfire and how much was burnt by the fire-fighting crew. These fires are never “put out”, as is done with a building fire. What usually happens is, the crews set fires (known as “back fires”) in an effort to burn the forest before the real fire gets there. It’s not unusual for fire crews to burn up more territory than would have been burnt if the fire had been allowed to go its own way. The key concept is not “fire versus no fire”, it is “control versus out of control”, usually framed as “we need government to protect us from this terrible fire demon”.

   So, as Public Enemy once sang, “Don’t believe the hype”. Journalists (and firefighters and government) need to create hype and mayhem in order to get newsprint and air- (or internet-) time. Many of these people are clueless, but most know the truth. But their jobs are dependent on disasteritis.

   earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=78449

   Sorry I couldn’t paste in the photo. Not sure why. But the link should work.

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6. Steve Tabor says:

   July 11, 2012 at 7:36 pm

   Update on the Waldo Fire, July 11

   In The Gazette (local Colo newspaper:

   The headline:

   “WALDO CANYON FIRE: A third of burn scar is ‘severe’, will take years to recover”

   In the article:

   “So far, it appears about a third of the burn area is rated “severe,” meaning most of the vegetation is gone.” The Gazette, July 10, 2012

   I can’t wait to see the report the Forest Service alleges will be written. I sent this letter to The Gazette via their website.

   “Tho this is a distinctly unscientific statement, it appears to mean that two-thirds of the “burn area” still DOES have vegetation on it. Therefore it was not a “29-square mile burn”, and 29-square miles were not “destroyed”, as media reports allege.

   These fires are always wind-driven, which means that large swathes of forest and brush are skipped over. What we are dealing with here, as with all fires, is media hype, used to sell newspapers, TV time, and internet eyeballs. This area was waiting to burn because there is always a Spring-Summer drought in Colorado and because the Forest Service fights all fires, which allows the forest and brush to grow in more thickly for the next fire.

   Already homeowners are clamoring to get back in and build their houses even bigger on the same land in the same dangerous fire zone. Watch for more forest fire “destruction” 30-40 years down the road. And our taxpayer dollars will be used to protect these silly people, just like they were in the Waldo fire.”

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