Dry season - what is the cause?! (Sacramento, Stockton: camp, live in)

[MHarrington]

We all know about the extremely dry season that has been causing the drought and the wildfire and the resulting smoke that just refuses to go anywhere. Why has the season been so dry?!?

[DMenscha]

I'm going to hate myself for this, but, Because it didn't rain much in March and April?

Seriously though a few years ago we got something like 200% of normal rainfall in April when all the agencies were very worried about reservoir levels. It filled all the lakes up in a 30 day period. The weather is what it is and the fuel moistures are very low.

[sav858]

La Nina

[jguillot]

Originally Posted by MHarrington

We all know about the extremely dry season that has been causing the drought and the wildfire and the resulting smoke that just refuses to go anywhere. Why has the season been so dry?!?

Life without rain is typical for this time of the year in the Sacramento area and central valley, but this cycle sees to have started a little earlier this year. I believe the lack of rain is caused by high pressure systems that remain off the California coast, thus preventing weather systems from moving in. We won't see any changes until at least late October.

[cityx]

If it wasn't for all the lightning strikes in the foothills and coastal hills this past weekend there wouldn't have been any fires and thus, no smoke. We are five days into this and what people are praying for is some sort of weather front to push all this gunk out of the valley. Today, I think, is the absolute worst so far and there is an unhealthful air alert (for everyone) for the Sacramento and Stockton area.
It has been very difficult to breathe the past few days.

[MHarrington]

Originally Posted by cityx

If it wasn't for all the lightning strikes in the foothills and coastal hills this past weekend there wouldn't have been any fires and thus, no smoke. We are five days into this and what people are praying for is some sort of weather front to push all this gunk out of the valley. Today, I think, is the absolute worst so far and there is an unhealthful air alert (for everyone) for the Sacramento and Stockton area.
It has been very difficult to breathe the past few days.

I guess you might as well get used to not breathing because the smoke isn't going anywhere anytime soon, I don't think.

[Kingsnkali]

Hard to put out 100's of raging wildfires. And more lightning starts may occur this weekend in the mountains unless they can also generate enough rain.

This smoke will just shift back and forth with the changing weather patterns until they can get more of the fires contained. Going to take a long time. And the crews are overwhelmed and overworked.

If we get into a strong/dry north wind pattern - these fires could really explode and destroy miles and miles of whole forests. A monster fire storm....

Hopefully, we're not dealing with this through October.

All of us should be extremely careful with camp fires, cigarettes, off road vehicles etc. We don't need any more fires or this thing could get out of control fast.

[cityx]

My worrisome mother called yesterday and invited me to come down and stay with them yesterday - they live in South Orange County. I would love to breathe some clean(er) air again but work is bogging me down so I'm stuck here like all of us just trying to deal. I love to run outdoors - I do so about four to five times per week - but I haven't been able to since Sunday and I'm starting to feel like a big slob. Despite this, I still figure it would be in my best interest to take it easy until this thing blows over but how long will that take? Surprisingly, I still see a lot of people out running and doing their normal outdoor workouts like it's no big deal. They have no clue that forceably pushing that smokey air into their lungs, with all those microscopic particulates, could potentially be doing them so much harm.

[MHarrington]

Originally Posted by Kingsnkali

Hard to put out 100's of raging wildfires. And more lightning starts may occur this weekend in the mountains unless they can also generate enough rain.

This smoke will just shift back and forth with the changing weather patterns until they can get more of the fires contained. Going to take a long time. And the crews are overwhelmed and overworked.

If we get into a strong/dry north wind pattern - these fires could really explode and destroy miles and miles of whole forests. A monster fire storm....

Hopefully, we're not dealing with this through October.

All of us should be extremely careful with camp fires, cigarettes, off road vehicles etc. We don't need any more fires or this thing could get out of control fast.

So are you saying that these fires are here until pigs fly (in short, forever)? Also the governor said that fire season as one knew it in the past is now a thing of, well, the past. He said fire season is now here all year round.

[cityx]

Originally Posted by MHarrington

So are you saying that these fires are here until pigs fly (in short, forever)? Also the governor said that fire season as one knew it in the past is now a thing of, well, the past. He said fire season is now here all year round.

I think this year has been an especially unique one as far as the weather. We had an extremely dry winter, and an unusual amount of those very drying "north winds" in April and May that turned the region's vegetation into a tinderbox. Is this an indication of climate change? Who really knows? But many experts believe that we will see more and more of these ultra dry winters and springs in the coming years - hence the governor's comments the other day. If that is the case, then fire generated smoke on top of the usual air pollution will create extremely hazardous breathing conditions in the Central Valley and will be one more thing we have to worry about health-wise. Right now, what we need is a cool air mass - a low pressure system - to dip down from the Northern Pacific to add moisture to the atmosphere, lower temperatures, and add enough wind to stir up the atmosphere to get the smoke out of here.