Wildfire Season Begins

Posted on May 2, 2021 by vanbraman

Wildfire season has arrived here in California and already there are three wildfires burning within 100 mile of home.

The closest one started within the last day and is only about 160 acres, but this could be a sign of what is to come this year. We did not have a very wet rainy season and the temperatures have been high early in the year.

I don’t like it when the lead stories on the local news are about wildfires.

Fire, California, Smoke, Wind, Central Valley, Bad Air QualityThe winds have also been very high this weekend and we are under a red-flag warning until at least Tuesday.

Kansas Grass Fires, Southwest KansasI am hoping that we do not see as many wildfires this year as we did last year.

California wild fires, red sky, smoky sky, red tinged cloudsWe had some pretty bad fires to the south of us, and the air quality was not very good.

Red Sun, Sunsetting, bad air quality, sillouetesHopefully we won’t see skies that are full of smoke.

California wild fires, red sky, smoky sky, red tinged cloudsThe wind is blowing toward where the fires are this weekend, but this could easily change and the Central Valley could fill with smoke from the fires.

I am hoping that we do not see afternoon skies like this.

Steven

 

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Windy Weekend

Posted on May 1, 2021 by vanbraman

This has been a very windy weekend so far, and it may not be until Tuesday when it is calmer.

Fallen Tree, Agapanthus, yard work, Vacation returnThis has prompted a red-flag warning for wildfires since the winds are really gusting in the hills where power lines pass through trees.

The picture above is quite old, but is an example of a tree blown over by the wind. Of course, in the mountains it is not the small trees that they are worried about. They are worried about the large power lines blowing in the wind and also the larger trees around homes where feeder lines bring them power.

Spring Tree growth, tree trimming, Neighbor fenceDuring winter I did some trimming of my trees to make sure they did not blow as much in the wind.

Branches, Tree Trimming, Cutting up a treeI cut out some pretty large branches to make sure the trees did not have as many large areas of leaves.

back yard, tree trimming, saws, ladders yard workI can just imagine how much more they would be blowing around this weekend if I hadn’t done some work on them this winter.

California wild fires, red sky, smoky sky, red tinged cloudsHopefully we will not have any new wild fires after this weekend of wind. Last year we had a lot of problems with wild fires and I don’t want to have this view from my backyard again this year.

The wind is also very noisy. It is hard to go to sleep when the trees are soughing in 20 mph wind.

I hope it is not as noisy tonight as it was last night.

Steven

 

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