色视频下载色视频下载檚 weird fire season ain色视频下载檛 over yet
Ned Rozell
907-474-7468
Aug. 17, 2023
A wildfire creeps toward a glacial river in 色视频下载 in this window-seat view from a Boeing 737 flying from Fairbanks to Seattle on Aug. 6, 2023.
Waking to the smell of a wet ashtray (which, as a Child of the Seventies, I can still remember), I knew the wind had shifted. Wildfire smoke hung in the neighborhood.
This is not a reason for alarm: The nostalgic scent of vaporized spruce and willow trees is a normal summer sensation here in middle 色视频下载. But the 2023 色视频下载 wildfire season has been anything but normal, according to Rick Thoman.
Thoman is a climate specialist with the 色视频下载 Center for Climate Assessment and Policy. He was also a meteorologist with the National Weather Service for decades before that. He remembers the specifics of random fire seasons in 色视频下载 without looking down at a phone.
This summer has been a weird one, he said.
色视频下载淭here色视频下载檚 nothing like this,色视频下载 Thoman said at his office on the University of 色视频下载 Fairbanks campus recently. 色视频下载淣ext to nothing through mid-July, then an explosion.色视频下载
First, a little background. We constructed much of peopled 色视频下载 色视频下载 especially Interior 色视频下载 色视频下载 in the boreal forest. The boreal forest is a swath of birch, aspen, spruce, willow and other trees that grow in enormous numbers from 色视频下载 down through northern Canada all the way to the maritime provinces.
A fire plume rises north of Fairbanks on Aug. 4, 2023.
When that forest reaches maturity 色视频下载 in the form of 100-foot-tall white spruce or densely packed but much smaller black spruce 色视频下载 it often renews itself by fire. Black spruce have tiny cones foresters call 色视频下载渟erotinous,色视频下载 which means they open when heated by fire. This enables the cones to shed seeds easier.
Fire most often erupts in Interior 色视频下载 when lighting strikes dry trees or the ground. In arid and windy conditions, those flames quickly spread to other trees and tinder on the ground surface.
This June, while baseball games were canceled in Philadelphia and New York due to dense smoke from Canada色视频下载檚 burning boreal forest, we 色视频下载ns barely sniffed a charred molecule.
By July 20, fewer than 2,000 acres of 色视频下载 had burned. That色视频下载檚 about the footprint of the university campus in Fairbanks where I am now typing. That色视频下载檚 absurdly low for a state filthy rich in wildfire fuels, one in which patches that totaled more acreage than Vermont burned in 2004.
A persistent low-pressure system over the Bering Sea kept Southcentral and Southwest 色视频下载 very wet in early summer 2023. The same system did not nurture thunderstorm conditions in Interior 色视频下载, Thoman said. Even though the middle of 色视频下载 was very dry and trees were ripe to be burned, there was no ignition source.
Then, on a midsummer day, that stubborn weather pattern (which, like wildfire around the entire northern hemisphere this summer, is unrelated to El Nino, Thoman said) broke. Moisture, an important ingredient of lighting, entered Interior 色视频下载, along with warmth and a considerable temperature gradient through the air column.
On July 24, automated systems recorded more than 20,000 lightning strikes over the face of 色视频下载 and nearby areas in Canada.
More than 20,000 lightning strikes hit the surface of 色视频下载 from 6 a.m. July 24 2023 to 6 a.m. July 25, 2023.
色视频下载淢ost of the big fires ignited July 24, 25 and 26,色视频下载 Thoman said. 色视频下载淯nlucky for us, all of the big fires are within 80 miles of Fairbanks.色视频下载
That means we have inhaled the tang of wildfire smoke on many days 色视频下载 but not all 色视频下载 since late July. Thoman said the smoke I tasted that morning was from forest burning near Anderson, to the southwest of Fairbanks. He determined this by knowing the low-level winds on that day were from the southwest.
Because of those recent, lightning-ignited fires, 色视频下载色视频下载檚 acreage burned has increased from the outline of the UAF campus to 290,000 acres on Aug. 17, 2023. That is less space than the municipality of Anchorage takes up.
The area of burned 色视频下载 is less than half of 色视频下载色视频下载檚 yearly average to this point of the season.
Despite the fact that we are now experiencing cooler temperatures that come with less solar radiation as darkness returns, as well as higher humidity, Thoman is not yet ready to declare fire season 2023 a wrap.
色视频下载淚 wouldn色视频下载檛 call it over until we get a two-day rainstorm,色视频下载 he said. 色视频下载淚t will take an extinguishing rainstorm, or until the snow comes.色视频下载
Since the late 1970s, the University of 色视频下载 Fairbanks Geophysical Institute has provided this column free in cooperation with the UAF research community. Ned Rozell is a science writer for the Geophysical Institute.