Extreme Temperature Diary- July 31, 2018/ Hot Topic: California On Fire

Tuesday July 31st… Dear Diary. The main purpose of this ongoing post will be to track United States extreme or record temperatures related to climate change. Any reports I see of ETs will be listed below the main topic of the day. I’ll refer to extreme or record temperatures as ETs (not extraterrestrials)😊. Here is today’s main climate change post related hot topic:

California On Fire

We have a very real, tangible emergency going on in this country at the moment, which unfortunately most media here is not tying into climate change. California looks like a war zone where brave fire fighters and people are fighting massive conflagrations induced by excessive heat brought about by global warming. The planet is currently seeing global temperature averages at a little over +1.0C above preindustrial conditions. It’s becoming very apparent that California and much of the West will be suffering much more from wildfires as the planet zooms towards +1.5C above preindustrial levels during our lifetimes. It really burns me (pardon the pun) that most television news media are adverse to a tie into climate change in association with the fires. We do see a lot of print media (or on-line written media) making great cases linking  this season’s fires with climate change. Perhaps soon I’ll explore in a post why there is so much hesitation stating that climate change is happening on air during those 30 minute prime time news broadcast.

For today I will be posting more news, videos and pictures cobbled together to give all reading a sense of the scope and breath of the western fires. As usual, this will be a fluid post in which more information gets added during the day as it crosses my radar, crediting all who have put it on-line. There is so much “stuff” on social media about the fires that I will only show a fraction of material. I hope to hit most of the highlights. I posted these summaries with videos, which were well received, when the Carr Fire began to make national news:

https://guyonclimate.com/2018/07/27/extreme-temperature-diary-july-27-2018-hot-topic-california-carr-fire/

https://guyonclimate.com/2018/07/28/extreme-temperature-diary-july-28-2018-hot-topic-summer-of-too-many-extremes/

This video gives all the scope of some of the fires:

Photo:

The fires are getting so bad that we need help from Canada:

8 Lives have been taken by the Carr Fire.

1,236 families that have lost everything except themselves.
6 families lost loved ones.

It is still July. Our fire season peaks in October which is still a full 2 months away.

These pictures are epic:
Quoting from this article:
“Recent wildfires in California are notable for their ferocity. At least six people have died, including two firefighters, in the past month in fires that continue to blaze, and 44 died as a result of last year’s wine country fires. The conflagrations have also spawned bizarre pyrotechnics, from firenados to towering pyrocumulus clouds that evoke a nuclear detonation. These events are not aberrations, say experts. They are California’s future.”

Deep-dive by into broader climate context of recent California wildfires, including importance of rising temperatures. Plus, discussion of extraordinary & devastating “fire vortex.” Thoughts by , , , and .

Here is one huge reason why so called subtle effects of climate change can have big ramifications. Nights are warming faster than days aiding these conflagrations: 

The nighttime warmth has been especially extraordinary so far this summer in California. Preliminary data suggest that overnight temperatures this July were warmest on record across most of state, including areas near ongoing major fires and in Los Angeles County.

Dear Diary. There is more bad news this evening:

6:41 PM – 31 Jul 2018
I’m still forecasting a break in the heat for California this coming weekend, but next week the heat dome will be back parked over the West:
………………………………………………………………………………………………
Tomorrow hot temperatures will start to get tempered finally in Seattle and Portland. California won’t see much relief. A warming trend will begin in the western Plains:
As opposed to the West the East will see too much rain yet again keeping temperatures down.

Here are Tuesday’s maxes:
There was very little change in max readings from Tuesday. Seattle failed to reach 80F for the first time in about a week.

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The Climate Guy 

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