Early Start to Fire Season - Alberta, CA

[Matted Joybeard]

Alberta is declaring an early start to the 2024 wildfire season.

The legislated wildfire season runs March 1 to Oct. 31, but Todd Loewen, minister of forestry and parks, announced Tuesday the fire season is now underway as a result of warmer-than-normal temperatures and below-average precipitation.

"I know Albertans are feeling uneasy about the risks posed to their homes, communities and daily lives. I understand these concerns and I share them as someone whose home was near the forest and was threatened by wildfire in 2023," he told reporters. "So as of today, a permit is required for any burning plan in the forest protection area."

There are currently 54 wildfires burning in Alberta, 52 of those fires started in 2023.

 

[Matted Joybeard]

'Zombie Fires' burning at an alarming rate in Canada

Canada's wildfire season is not over, with dozens of winter fires still burning beneath the soil.

www.bbc.com

Sonja Leverkus, a firefighter and scientist who is local to the small north-eastern BC town, recalled driving during a snowstorm in November, but the snowfall didn't look white.

Rather, she said, it was blueish-grey because of the smoke in the air.

"I've never experienced a snowstorm that smelled like smoke," said Ms Leverkus, who has lived in northern BC for more than 15 years.

These fires are not unusual. In the past 10 years, British Columbia has, on average, seen five or six that continue to burn during the cold months, experts say.

But in January, the province saw an unprecedented peak of 106 active zombie fires, raising concern among fire scientists about what these smoulders will mean for the upcoming wildfire season.

Most typically go out on their own before the spring, but 91 are still burning in BC, according to provincial data, and those that are not extinguished by March could reignite once the snow melts and they are exposed to air.

More than 18 million hectares (44 million acres) of land were burned by wildfires in Canada in 2023 - an area roughly the size of Cambodia - far surpassing the country's 10-year average.

By the end of the [2023], officials recorded a total of more than 2,200 wildfires in BC.

Another reason, Prof Flannigan said, is the extreme drought that the province has been dealing with over the last two years.

As of February, most of BC has been under medium to extreme levels of drought, per the province's drought map.

Like the zombie fires, the drought, too, has been noticeable, said Ms Leverkus.

When out in the forest last summer, she said she noticed that a creek that used to flow freely is now "just puddles".

These drought conditions have persisted through the winter. The province has seen so little snow that one ski resort in BC's South Cariboo region was forced to close its doors in early January for the remainder of the season.

 

[odanny]

One of the many root symptoms of climate change is extreme weather, not just the extreme drought that California experieced for two decades,it is now the atmospheric rivers of rainfall that is causing flooding, mudslides, and roads and homes to wash away. It is weather extremes. Canada might be burning while just south of the border there is extreme flooding.

On a more positive note, the extreme rain in California is replensihing many reservoirs, lakes, and other bodies of water, but when you only have fires and floods, you lose both ways.

Last year we dealt wth the fallout from your fire season down here.

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

One of the many root symptoms of climate change is extreme weather,

Exactly!
No extreme weather before we started burning coal.

 

[ReinyDays]

One of the many root symptoms of climate change is extreme weather, not just the extreme drought that California experieced for two decades,it is now the atmospheric rivers of rainfall that is causing flooding, mudslides, and roads and homes to wash away. It is weather extremes. Canada might be burning while just south of the border there is extreme flooding.

On a more positive note, the extreme rain in California is replensihing many reservoirs, lakes, and other bodies of water, but when you only have fires and floods, you lose both ways.

Last year we dealt wth the fallout from your fire season down here.

You get your information from the National Enquirer? ... I read all the doom-and-gloom reporting myself ... 40 million folks under a Flood Watch ... well, those floods never happened, just a couple rivers in the Coast Mountains rose a few inches above flood stage and quickly dropped again ...

Atmospheric Rivers don't always cause flooding ... we get them a few times every year ... reservoirs are always lowered in Fall to contain any and all rain storms ...

... extreme rain in California ...

You believe the lies? ... took me 15 seconds on Google to find out California is only an inch above average ... ONE INCH ... {Cite} ... you peed your pants because water is up and over your big toe ??? ...

HEY STUPID ... good rainfall is REALLY REALLY BAD for fire season ... Alberta has a Humid climate, California doesn't ... the grass that grows all winter dries out and BURNS all summer here in the Mediterranean climate ... the way you people ape the lame-stream media is sickening ...

Let's make it easy ... Gasket, California, averages 7 feet 0 inches of rainfall per year ... they'll be getting 7 feet 2 inches of rain this year ... why do you call that extreme? ... if it rains every day all day long, how can you tell if it's an Atmospheric River event? ... I keep a 5-gallon bucket in the yard, if it fills over the weekend, I know we had a Atmospheric River ... that's especially true if the wind smells of pineapple ...

=====

Atmospheric River events send the snowline up over the mountain ridges ... all rain even at the highest elevations ... we've had a warm winter this year, so not much snow up there to melt off all at once ... the flood danger comes when we've had particularly cold winter with lots and lots and lots of wet heavy snow down to a low low elevation ... 12 inches of 70ºF tropical rain on top of ten feet of snow over a weekend ... like 1964 ...

With global warming, there's less snow ... less chance for flooding ... burn tires will ya? ...