Posted on July 8 at 11:43 a.m.

Gosh how I miss SB!! We always used to laugh at the North County/South County political divide in the News-Suppress opeds. I even saved some of the commentaries because they were so funny! Who recalls Andrea Seastrand and Michael (vote "Mike" - he's RICH!!!)/Ariana Huffington - inept congressional reps in the Gingrich contract on America? Andrea said in the mid 90s - and this is really true - look it up although I may have gotten a word or two wrong - that California's floods, fires, and earthquakes were god's wrath for feminism, multiculturalism, and homosexuality.

But seriously, these are all valid points. Climate fluxuates. We are still going into an interglacial (look up Milankovitch cyclicity) - and no matter what anyone does, Earth is warming up. The question is one of magnitude and rate.

PS: the big buildup of fuel in the Santa Lucias is almost entirely due to sudden oak death of tan oaks combined with total fire suppression policies. Once this fuel is consumed, lightning fires would probably be beneficial. They'd be cooler and clear out the brush and deadwood w/o damaging mature trees. At least that's what appears to happen.

You are all lucky to live in such a wonderful place as SB. We miss it!

On Gap Fire: A Sign of Global Warming?

Posted on July 7 at 11:19 a.m.

Interesting points brought up here. As a paleoclimate researcher and SB native who moved to Oregon a decade ago, I immediately saw the impact that global warming potentially could have on west coast climate. Few would argue that a warmer Earth would permit unstable tropical air masses to move further north (and south) earlier in the season. These air masses are usually accompanied by lightning. On June 20 California experienced a lightning storm that produced over 800 local fires. While this is not unprecedented, it is very unusual this early in the season. Lightning fires are the most important cause of non-man made wildfire; and a clear boundary separates portions of the west that experience them, and those that do not. Early season lightning fires will almost certainly burn until the rain starts again in late fall. Any process that produces more intense, earlier, and more northward (or southward) reaching lightning storms will have a serious impact on fire frequency and cyclicity. Stronger El Nino/La Nina events will also contribute by allowing fuel to build up then become highly burnable. I'm in Carmel right now and am focused on the lightning-generated Basin Complex fire in Big Sur. The combination of high fuel loads and lightning has produces what looks to be an unstoppable monster. While this fire could have occurred whether warming was occurring or not, the PROBABILITY of these types of events in California increases dramatically as global temperature increases.

On Gap Fire: A Sign of Global Warming?