Quote:
Originally Posted by
MumblesBadly
Except the data shows that the average temperature in southern California has risen considably over the past century. And the snowpack in the mountains is melting sooner. Both those effects are drying out the vegetation much more, making it easier for wildfires to start and spread.
https://www.epa.gov/sites/production...-change-ca.pdf
You're making a huge leap here regarding "wildfires starting and spreading" which isn't necessarily true.
Southern California has always been dry for the 6 month period from April 15 to October 15 (and sometimes longer). A little dryer or a little hotter will be a negligible difference.
Wildfires get out of control because of the hot, dry environment and the prevalence of dense trees and brush in the hills and mountains in the region. There have been some efforts to encourage brush/tree clearance in order to bring down the wildfire danger, but environmentalists have refused to allow it, citing the destruction of animal habitats. Instead, the animals die a horrific death in these fires anyway. That's what Trump was trying to refer to when he was blaming California for this mess, but as usual, his lack of eloquence makes even his smart statements look stupid.
BTW, contrary to popular belief, more frequent wildfires is actually long term good for California, provided they are kept under control.
For example, Ventura County had the Spring Fire in 2013, which burnt up a lot of brush but destroyed very few structures and killed no one. The Hill Fire this time around, while initially scary, did little overall damage because it ran into the Spring Fire damage from 2013, and had no more fuel to burn. Firefighters easily contained it at that point.
The Woolsey fire, which was originally smaller, went a different direction, and did not run into areas recently burned, so it consumed a large area and caused a lot of destruction.
It should also be noted that smart neighborhood planning can also keep fire damage/deaths to a minimum. In these recent SoCal fires, some of the newer-built areas were much easier to defend, because they were built with fire danger in mind. It's the old school homes and businesses which are in greater danger, as they just put the houses up and didn't think about the fire situation.
Anyway, this is what bugs me about "climate change" fanatics. Instead of focusing upon the true causes of the problems and trying to solve them, it seems they want to bend over backwards to prove themselves right, thus resulting in nothing helpful actually getting done.