A Turning Point in the California Fires?
Oct 25, 2007 | Tags: california
God, I hope so. According to the news (reliable or not!?) this morning, the Santa Ana winds have died down to 30 mph instead of the 100mph gusts. This is good news for the firefighting aircrafts, because now they can fly and dump water! The temperatures are lowering a bit and humidity is coming from the Pacific Ocean breeze, which is good. My friends in S an Diego say the air is yucky, muggy, and dirty.
Officials say the fire damage has risen to a whopping 434,543 acres. That’s approximately 678 square miles. To me, I know that number is big, but here’s the shocker that made me realize just how big: 678 square miles is approximately ten times the size of Washington DC. Washington DC is about 68 square miles. Jeff drew on a map to help put this in perspective. Almost the entire DC Metro area would be wiped out.
(picture credit goes to Jeff Fredrickson)
When I lived in California, I sometimes saw fires in the hills. The air is dry out there and it almost never rains in the summer/fall. Most of the rain comes in the winter months. Even though the risks were high for the fires to spread dramatically, I never worried about it because I didn’t see them turn into troublesome big fires. Never did I think California fires could get this big in our time!
Seriously, my heart goes out to the fire victims and I really hope the fires are contained ASAP. What makes me go GRRR is the fact that it’s pouring here in DC and not where it should be – California. . It poured yesterday, and its pouring again. I see that we’re expected more rain for the rest of this week. I want this rain to go to California! They need it more than us!
