California wildfires

[Old Rocks]

From what I've heard, there's a new resiliant pine-beetle that's been taking over in the last few years. It's been killing millions and millions of trees, leaving them more vulnerable to fires. My wife and I went to Colorado for our honeymoon and it was unbelievable. I had been there about 10 years before and I looked completely different. You can look at sky lines and see just large clumps of brown trees....and they keep spreading. Many Coloradoans are really upset over it. I'm sure this could be the case in other Northwestern-mountainous states as well....I could be wrong, but it's a possibility.

Yeah - the pine-borer beetle is killing trees by the millions in the rockies. CO had a very bad drought from 2001-13 which weakened the trees and also they haven't been getting the real cold winter temps that kill off the beetle. The state needs some nights where the mountains get down to -40 F and that hasn't been happening.

You mean that the winters are getting warmer? Oh the heresy, the evil heresy you speak.

 

[waltky]

Thomas fire threatens Montecito...

California wildfire 3rd largest in state history, threatening Montecito
Dec. 16, 2017 -- The Thomas Fire, now the third largest fire in California's recorded history, is only 40 percent contained in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties and is bearing down on mansions in Montecito.

Firefighters are bracing for the blaze to strengthen because strong Santa Ana winds are pushing south from the mountains down to the coast, with forecasted gusts reaching up to 40 mph. The winds are removing moisture and no rain is forecast. Evacuation orders were expanded in and around Montecito and Summerland. The northbound 101 Freeway into Santa Barbara was closed to traffic. "When the sundowners surface in that area and the fire starts running down slopes, you are not going to stop it," Mark Brown, an operations section chief for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, told reporters at a Saturday morning news briefing. "And we are not going to stand in front of it and put firefighters in untenable situations."

The fire, which started on Dec. 4, has burned 256,000 square acres northwest of Los Angeles, according to Cal Fire, and has the potential to become the biggest fire ever in California since recording began in 1932. No. 1 is the 2003 Cedar Fire, which killed 15 people and burned just over 273,000 acres in San Diego. No. 2 in California is the Rush Fire in the northern portion of the state at 271,911 acres in 2012. But the fire also burned in Nevada for a total of 315,577 acres. A total of 8,370 firefighters, 32 helicopters and 77 bulldozers were working the blaze Saturday morning. Two people have been killed in the fire, which has also destroyed 1,009 structures, damaged 240 structures and threatens 18,000 more.

The Thomas Fire had spread to 259,000 acres and was 40 percent contained, according to Cal Fire. Photo courtesy of Cal Fire on Twitter was near Highway 150 and Highway 126 north of Santa Paula in Ventura County.​

If the winds run south down the canyon toward Montecito, "we won't stop the spread," Brown said. Hundreds of homes are in the fire's potential path, and Brown said it too dangerous to put firefighters in front of it to stop it. They would instead watch it from designated "safety zones" and then attack it from behind. The enclave includes mansions of Oprah Winfrey, Ellen DeGeneres and many other celebrities.

Winfrey expressed her dismay on her Twitter account. "Still praying for our little town. Winds picked up this morning creating a perfect storm of bad for firefighters," Winfrey tweeted. It was not clear if Winfrey was in Montecito. Martin Johnson, a division chief with the Santa Barbara County Fire Department, said "If you are in an evacuation order area, I am asking you to please heed that order. If you're in one of the warning areas ... be ready to go at a moment's notice. This is a significant event and we want everybody to be ready."

California wildfire 3rd largest in state history, threatening Montecito

 

[Natural Citizen]

I can't believe this stuff is still going on.

 

[mudwhistle]

Every year this happens and every year I seriously wonder if someone (or multiple people) are deliberately setting some of these fires as a form of pyroterrorism... but if that was the case why only target California?

If it was serious pyroterrorists wouldn't they target all of the United States and go on a fire-lighting spree?

The homeless are setting them....

 

[waltky]

Flooding aftermath of wildfires...

At least 8 people dead after California mudslides
Jan 9, 2018 - At least eight people are dead after powerful storms and mudslides swept parts of Southern California on Tuesday, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Firefighters rescued eight people in Montecito, and authorities say those numbers could rise as several people remain missing.

Emergency personnel search through debris and damaged homes after a mudslide in Montecito, California on Jan. 9.​

On Monday, mandatory evacuations were issued by Santa Barbara County officials and warned that the regions that already scorched by the California wildfires would face a major rainstorm of the season. This storm dumped more than five inches of rainfall north of Ojai in the Thomas Fire burn area, the National Weather Service in Los Angeles reported.

Emergency personnel inspect a damaged home on Hot Springs Road after a mudslide in Montecito, California on Jan. 9.​

Mud flowed “waist-high” 30 miles away in Montecito after heavy rainfall shortly after midnight, said Mike Eliason, a public information officer for the Santa Barbara County Fire Department. The storm and mud littered roads with downed trees and powerlines in Montecito, and gas mains were reported broken, he said.

A search dog looks for victims in damaged homes after a mudslide in Montecito on Jan. 9.​

Also according to Eliason, the emergency crews have received numerous calls to rescue people trapped in vehicles, homes and a child was among one of those who was injured. The severe storm is threatening the state with the heaviest rainfall in six years, according to Reuters.

Emergency personnel rescue a man from flood waters and debris after a mudslide in Montecito, California, U.S. in this photo provided by the Santa Barbara County Fire Department January 9, 2018.​

Flooding and debris flows closed US 101 in the Thomas Fire burn area, located north of Ventura and south of Santa Barbara, according to California Department of Transportation. Several freeways and highways were also closed in Ventura and Los Angeles counties due to mudslides.

Photos: At least 8 people dead after California mudslides

See also:

lifornia mudslides kill at least 13 people in area ravaged by wildfire
January 9, 2018 - Mudslides, boulders and cascading debris killed at least 13 people on Tuesday in an area of Southern California’s Pacific Coast ravaged by a series of intense wildfires that burned off protective vegetation last month.

Heavy downpours struck before dawn on Tuesday after thousands of residents in Santa Barbara County along the Pacific coast north of Los Angeles were ordered to evacuate or urged to do so voluntarily, some of them for a second time since December. But only 10 to 15 percent complied with mandatory orders, said Amber Anderson, a spokeswoman for the Santa Barbara County Fire Department. Emergency workers, using search dogs and helicopters, have rescued dozens of people stranded in mud-coated rubble in the pristine area, sandwiched between the ocean and the sprawling Los Padres National Forest, about 110 miles north of Los Angeles. The upscale communities of Montecito and Carpenteria, just outside the city of Santa Barbara, were hardest hit.

The mudslides toppled trees, demolished cars and covered blocks of quiet residential neighborhoods with a thick layer of mud, and blocked Highway 101, a major north-south route along the coast. “The best way I can describe it is, it looked like a World War One battlefield,” Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown said at a news conference. The death toll could rise, with rescue workers still picking through dozens of damaged and demolished homes in the search for survivors, Brown said. At one point on Tuesday, at least two dozen people were missing, but Brown did not know how many were still missing. About 300 people were stranded in a canyon. Local officials, using borrowed helicopters from the U.S. Coast Guard, were working to airlift them out, Brown said.

THIGH-HIGH MUD

The number of fatalities surpassed the death toll from a California mudslide on Jan. 10, 2005, when 10 people were killed as a hillside gave way in the town of La Conchita, less than 20 miles (32 km) south of the latest disaster. The threat of mudslides had prompted the county to order 7,000 residents to leave their homes ahead of a powerful rainstorm and to urge 23,000 others to evacuate voluntarily. The mudslides swept through both the mandatory evacuation zones and areas where people were urged to voluntarily leave, Brown said. Brown, in response to questions of why some places were part of the mandatory evacuation zone, said it was not possible “in a situation like this to define to the house or to the block or to the neighborhood” where a mudslide might occur.

The county set up an evacuation shelter at Santa Barbara City College, where some people showed up drenched in mud, and also provided a place for people to take their animals. Last month’s wildfires, the largest in California history, left the area vulnerable to mudslides. The fires burned away grass and shrubs that hold the soil in place and also baked a waxy layer into the earth that prevents water from sinking deeply into the ground. Some local residents had to flee their homes due to the fires last month and again this week because of the rains. Among them was Colin Funk, 42, who sat up watching mud and debris approaching his Montecito house overnight and fled on Tuesday morning with his wife and three young children as thigh-high mud approached the front doorway. “We started looking around and that’s when we saw parts of roofs and there was a body against our next door neighbor’s car,” Funk, who works as a financial adviser, said by telephone. “I feel lucky,” Funk said. “Some people lost their lives in my neighborhood.”

Television personality Ellen DeGeneres, who is among a coterie of celebrities such as Oprah Winfrey and Rob Lowe who own homes in the upscale community of Montecito, posted a photo on Twitter of a roadway choked with mud and brown water. “This is not a river,” DeGeneres wrote on Twitter. “This is the 101 freeway in my neighborhood right now. Montecito needs your love and support.” Some areas of Santa Barbara County early on Tuesday were pounded with more than a half-inch of rain in five minutes, a rate that far exceeds the normal flash flood threshold, officials said. “Where are the frogs and locusts? We’re waiting for them,” Dominic Shiach, a restaurateur from Montecito who evacuated due to last month’s fire, said by telephone. He lives just outside the latest evacuation zone.

California mudslides kill at least 13 people in area ravaged by wildfi

 

[waltky]

California mudslides death toll rises with 17 still missing...

California mudslides death toll rises with 17 still missing
11 Jan.`18 - Hundreds of rescuers are combing wreckage in Southern California for those missing after mudslides that have killed 17.

Another 28 injuries have been reported in Santa Barbara County following the deluge that overwhelmed an area scorched by wildfires last month. More than 100 homes were destroyed, and another 300 have been damaged. One rescue worker tearfully described plucking a "muddy doll" of a toddler from under several feet of debris. Berkeley Johnson said the two-year-old girl was taken to hospital and suffered an injury to her hip. "I don't know how the baby survived," Mr Berkeley told the Santa Barbara Independent newspaper.

Fire department workers rescued a 14-year-old girl from a collapsed house in Montecito​

He said of his own home in the community of Montecito: "This was an hour of rain, and the house was gone." Mr Johnson said he and his wife, Karen, heard a baby crying after the flooding had subsided and they managed to climb down from the roof of their swamped home. The pair joined a fireman to dig the toddler out, scooping mud from her mouth before she was taken to hospital. "Had we not gone over there, I don't think that kid would have [survived]," he added.

Graphic showing mandatory evacuation zones east of Santa Barbara, and huge swath of land affected by Thomas wildfire​

Police say 17 people remain missing. The death toll rose on Wednesday afternoon after two more bodies were found. More than 50 people have been rescued already but many places were still inaccessible. Several roads were closed, including the major Highway 101 which authorities say will not be reopened until Monday. "We are still very much in active search-and-rescue mode," said Chris Elms, a spokesman for Cal Fire, warning that the death toll may still rise. "That's a fear. We are still very hopeful that we will locate people alive," he added.

Boulders the size of cars rolled down hills and slammed into roadways​

Santa Barbara County spokesman Amber Anderson said: "We have no idea where they're at. We think somewhere in the debris field." The upmarket neighbourhood of Montecito is home to celebrities such as actor Rob Lowe, chat show host Ellen DeGeneres and media mogul Oprah Winfrey. On Instagram, Ms Winfrey said her property had escaped the worst as she toured the scene, but described the house next door as "devastated".

MORE

 

[waltky]

What a mess!...

California Town Digs Out of the Mud as Deaths Reach 19
January 14, 2018 — Recovery crews are slowly making progress digging away masses of mud, boulders and toppled trees in a California community that was ravaged by deadly mudslides. Officials said they’ve removed enough debris from creek canals to prevent another potential disaster when the next rainstorm hits.

Workers were using backhoes, jackhammers and chain saws to clear the debris in Montecito, nearly a week after a powerful storm sent flash floods cascading through mountain slopes that were burned bare by a huge wildfire in December. At least 19 people have been killed and five others remain missing. In addition to trying to find those who are still missing after Tuesday morning’s storm, crews have made it a priority to clear debris from basins and creek canals before another rainstorm. Long-range forecasts gave the crews about a week before the next chance of rain — and potential new mudslides — although the precipitation was expected to be light. Another system was possible two days later. “If we don’t get those debris basins cleaned out, then we’re not going to be prepared for the storm, and we don’t know what that storm is going to look like,” said Robert Lewin, Santa Barbara County’s emergency management director.

Hundreds of homes damaged, destroyed

The mudslides ravaged the tony community, destroying at least 65 homes and damaging more than 460 others, officials said. Firefighters went door to door along several blocks, checking the structural integrity of the damaged homes. The rest of the community’s infrastructure was also damaged. Some streets were cracked in half, and authorities closed bridges and overpasses because they were unstable. “The bridges, the roads, they all need help,” Lewin said.

Crews work on clearing Highway 101 in the aftermath of a mudslide, Jan. 13, 2018, in Montecito, Calif. Most of the people of the town, usually known for its serenity and luxury, were under orders to stay out as gas and power were to be shut off Saturday for repairs.​

Eight large excavators were being used to clear the debris from Montecito Creek, Tom Fayram, the deputy director of the county’s flood control district, said. “Two days ago I passed by an area where there was no creek, and today I went by and the creek was fully restored,” he said. “We are making great progress and we have several days before that next storm.”

Search for the missing continues

More than 2,000 searchers and recovery workers remained in the community late Saturday, carrying out backbreaking work in the summerlike weather that has made the stretch of Santa Barbara County coast about 90 miles (145 kilometers) northwest of Los Angeles a haven for the wealthy, celebrities and tourists. Much of the community of about 9,000 remained under mandatory evacuation orders, even unscathed areas, as crews both removed debris and worked to restore water, sanitation, power and gas.

California Town Digs Out of the Mud as Deaths Reach 19

 

[waltky]

Wildfires destroy homes, land and California’s budget...

Wildfires destroy homes, land and California’s budget
Fri, Aug 03, 2018 - Just a month into the budget year, the state has already spent more than one-quarter of its annual fire budget, at least US$125 million, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection spokesman Mike Mohler said on Wednesday.

Following years of drought and a summer of record-breaking heat, immense tracts of forests, chaparral and grasslands have become tinder that allows even a small spark to explode into a devouring blaze, authorities said. “We’re being surprised. Every year is teaching the fire authorities new lessons,” Californian Governor Jerry Brown said at a news conference. “We’re in uncharted territory.”

More than 13,000 firefighters are battling fires with the help of crews from as far away as Florida, but Brown repeated predictions from fire officials that California can expect a future of devastating fires, in part because of the changing climate. “People are doing everything they can, but nature is very powerful and we’re not on the side of nature,” Brown said.

The largest blaze burned in the Redding area, in Shasta County north of Sacramento. Six people, including two firefighters, have died and the fire has destroyed 1,058 homes and nearly 500 other buildings, state fire officials said. Tens of thousands of people remain under evacuation orders.

The fire, which is nearly twice the size of Sacramento, was only 35 percent contained after more than a week. “Unstable conditions, shifting winds, steep terrain and dry fuels continue to challenge firefighters,” a state fire update warned, noting that 56.3kph wind gusts were expected on ridge tops that could whip up the flames.

Meanwhile, at least three new fires erupted in the Sierra Nevada region, including a blaze in Placer County that had consumed 4km2 of land. North and east of San Francisco, two wildfires that began on Tuesday near the communities of Covelo and Yuba City continued to burn through grass, brush and timberlands. The fire near Covelo prompted evacuation orders for about 60 homes in the farming and ranching area on the edge of the Mendocino National Forest.

Twin fires also burned in Mendocino and Lake counties. They burned 14 homes and threatened 12,000 more. A 259km2 fire near Yosemite National Park prompted evacuation orders for the community of Wawona inside the park, which has fewer than 200 residents. Yosemite Valley and other areas of the park have been closed to tourists since July 25.

Wildfires destroy homes, land and California’s budget - Taipei Times

 

[waltky]

Mendocino Complex Blaze becomes largest in Californian history...

Blaze becomes largest in Californian history
2018-08-08 - California’s biggest wildfire on record yesterday raged as hot and windy conditions challenged thousands of fire crews battling eight major blazes burning out of control across the state.

The Mendocino Complex on Monday grew to span 114,526 hectares when two wildfires merged at the southern tip of the Mendocino National Forest, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) said.
It is the largest of eight major fires burning out of control across California, prompting US President Donald Trump to declare a “major disaster” in the state.
The size of the fire has surpassed that of last year’s Thomas Fire, which burned 114,078 hectares in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties when it destroyed more than 1,000 structures.
The Mendocino Complex has burnt 75 homes and forced thousands to be evacuated.

​

​

Crystal Easter, of Spring Valley, comforts her dogs, on Monday in Spring Valley, California, as they flee a wildfire. This is the second time this year Easter has had to evacuate.​

Temperatures could reach 43oC in Northern California over the next few days with gusty winds fanning the flames of the complex, a US National Weather Service meteorologist said. The 3,900 crews battling the Mendocino Complex were on Monday focusing on keeping flames from breaking through fire lines on a ridge above the foothill communities of Nice, Lucerne, Glen Haven and Clearlake Oaks, Cal Fire spokeswoman Tricia Austin said. Elsewhere, evacuations were ordered for cabins in Cleveland National Forest canyons in Orange County on Monday afternoon after a blaze broke out and quickly spread to span 283 hectares. The Carr Fire — which has torched 66,536 hectares in the scenic Shasta-Trinity region north of Sacramento since breaking out on July 23 — was 47 percent contained.

The Carr Fire has been blamed for seven deaths, including a 21-year-old Pacific Gas and Electric Company lineman Jay Ayeta, whom the company on Sunday said was killed in a vehicle crash as he worked with crews in dangerous terrain. “California wildfires are being magnified and made so much worse by the bad environmental laws, which aren’t allowing massive amount of readily available water to be properly utilized,” Trump wrote on Twitter. A Cal Fire spokesman declined to comment on Trump’s tweet, but said crews did not lack water to fight the flames. Environmental activists and some politicians have said the intensity of the state’s wildfire season could be linked in part to climate change.

Blaze becomes largest in Californian history - Taipei Times

 

[Skylar]

If only it wasn't for those pesky rivers......

 

[EvilCat Breath]

The Holy fire was near me. They caught the arsonist. Most if not all of these fires are arson.

 

[skookerasbil]

People laugh at the environmental nutters these days seizing upon these fires to push their agenda. ....."the warm winds off a heated ocean" or whatever contrived bs ghey come up with.....as if no other states are located near a windy ocean!!

What's really daunting? I think some of these folks actually believe the crap they post.

 

[cnm]

You know AGW has nothing whatsoever to do with increased fire risk in Ca. Scientists, pffffft, what do they know? They're just in it for the grant money, they can prove anything with facts.

Global warming caused by human emissions has most likely intensified the drought in California by 15 to 20 percent, scientists said on Thursday, warning that future dry spells in the state are almost certain to be worse than this one as the world continues to heat up.

Even though the findings suggest that the drought is primarily a consequence of natural climate variability, the scientists added that the likelihood of any drought becoming acute is rising because of climate change. The odds of California suffering droughts at the far end of the scale, like the current one that began in 2012, have roughly doubled over the past century, they said.

“This would be a drought no matter what,” said A. Park Williams, a climate scientist at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University and the lead author of a paper published by the journal Geophysical Research Letters. “It would be a fairly bad drought no matter what. But it’s definitely made worse by global warming.”
https://www.nytimes.com​

 

[Theowl32]

This is Forest Clark. Yes, his first name is Forest and a typical nut that California produces. That is one of the arsonists that started the fires that was arrested yesterday.

The other person that started the San Bernardino fires a month ago that still has not been controlled is this guy.

https://www.usnews.com/news/nationa...d-with-arson-for-starting-california-wildfire

A MAN WAS ARRESTED Wednesday and charged with starting a wildfire in the San Bernardino National Forest in California.

Brandon McGlover, 32, of Temecula, California was charged with five counts of arson to wildland, the Riverside County Fire Department and Cal Fire announced in a press release. The fast-growing and destructive Cranston wildfire has burned 4,700 acres and is only 5 percent contained, according to Cal Fire. It is burning about 15 miles southwest of Palm Springs and has forced more than 3,200 people to evacuate.

 

[waltky]

Fire-Generated Winds Pose Hazards to National Guard Efforts to Fight Wildfires...

Fire-Generated Winds Pose Hazards to National Guard Efforts to Fight Wildfires
15 Aug 2018 - The California wildfires can create their own violent weather, hampering firefighting efforts.

The scope and intensity of the California wildfires can create their own violent wind and weather systems and at times hamper firefighting efforts, California National Guard officials said Wednesday. "They're strong enough to actually pull us down to the ground" if his bucket-carrying helicopter gets too close, Army National Guard Sgt. Julian Ross, a helicopter pilot, said of the downdrafts triggered by fires that have ravaged wide swaths of the state. "There are some dangers," he said, including poor visibility in the towering plumes of smoke coursing up from the forest floor. The phenomenon has been called a "firenado" or "fire whirl," where intense rising heat combines with turbulent winds to create whirling eddies of air and smoke.


Air National Guard Staff Sgt. James Brown, of the 149th Intelligence Squadron, said the smoke and winds generated by the fires also have occasionally interfered with operations of the Guard's MQ-9 Reaperunmanned aerial vehicle, which has provided vital reconnaissance for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE). The fires have also affected operations of fixed-wing aircraft such as the C-130 Hercules using Modular Airborne Firefighting Systems (MAFFS) to drop water and retardants on the fires, Maj. Gen. Matthew Beevers, deputy adjutant general of the California Military Department, said in a video briefing from California to the Pentagon. About 2,000 California National Guard personnel have been mobilized thus far for the fires that began in early July; 969 are currently serving for a period of about 30 days, Beevers said. The National Guard personnel were joined earlier this week by about 200 active-duty soldiers from the 14th Engineer Brigade at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington.

Army National Guard Specialist Gonzalez mans a checkpoint as the Carr Fire burns in Redding, Calif.​

The JBLM soldiers are engaged in clearing brush and digging trenches in an effort to contain a fire north of San Francisco, known as the Mendocino Complex fire, considered to be the largest in state history. "We don't anticipate calling up additional soldiers and airmen" for the current spate of fires, Beevers said, but noted that the wildfire season began earlier than usual this year. "It's usually later in the summer or early fall," he said, but "for the last four or five years, the fires have been getting bigger and burning more erratically." To combat the fires, the California National Guard is providing nine UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters, two CH-47 Chinook helicopters, one UH-72 Lakotahelicopter, a C-12 Huron, one MQ-9 Reaper, one RC-26 Metroliner, one HH-60 Pave Hawk Rescue/Medical Evacuation Aircraft, and four MAFFS.


The California National Guard is also providing more than 100 vehicles and military police to aid in traffic control. In Oregon, about 400 National Guard personnel were activated July 20 to aid firefighting efforts in that state. The Oregon National Guard is providing two Chinooks, one HH-60 and one Lakota for air support, 17 Light Medium Tactical Vehicles, 27 High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles, five dump trucks, eight vans for transportation support, three Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Trucks for logistical support, and personnel to provide traffic assistance.



Fire-Generated Winds Pose Hazards to National Guard Efforts to Fight Wildfires

 

[waltky]

Climate Change Fuels California Fires...

Climate Change Fuels California Fires
September 12, 2018 — California has experienced record heat waves and catastrophic fires in recent years, and climate experts say it is likely to get worse.

A report released Aug. 27 by the state of California, the fourth in a series of assessments, puts the blame squarely on climate change. California Gov. Jerry Brown is hosting an international summit, beginning Wednesday, in San Francisco to search for solutions. The worst fires in California’s history came this year and last, with the 2018 Mendocino Complex Fire scorching 186,000 hectares. Parts of northern California are still burning. The largest of the fires, in Shasta County, has burned more than 20,000 hectares and is only 5 percent contained.

Climate research

The California Climate Change Assessment summarizes current climate research and finds a litany of problems caused by greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide, which is emitted by the use of fossil fuels such as coal and oil. If nothing or little is done, the reports say to expect temperature rises of 3 to 5 degrees Celsius (5.6 to 8.8 degrees Fahrenheit) by 2100; a two-thirds decline in water supplies from the mountain snow pack by 2050; a nearly 80 percent increase in the area scorched by fires by the end of the century; and up to two-thirds of Southern California beaches eroding in the same time frame.

A firefighter sprays the smoldering remains of a vehicle on Interstate 5 as the Delta Fire burns in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest, Calif.​

From flooding to a strained electrical grid and premature deaths and illnesses, the list is extensive. “I think we’ve reached the point where the impacts of climate change are no longer subtle,” said Michael Mann, who directs the Earth System Science Center at Pennsylvania State University. Mann was not involved in the study, but said he thinks its finding are, if anything, conservative. “We are literally seeing them play out in real time in the form of record heat waves, floods, droughts and wildfires,” he said.

The Delta Fire burns in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest, Calif.​

The Trump administration, however, has pledged to overturn emissions curbs and has promised to withdraw from the 2015 Paris climate agreement, an accord of nearly 200 countries that requires national targets for emission cuts but which lacks enforcement powers. President Donald Trump said the pact is ineffective and kills jobs. Climate experts say something must be done to slow the climate shifts that are underway. “A warmer atmosphere can hold more moisture, so there’s the potential for greater rainfall events, worse flooding,” Mann said. “A warmer atmosphere also dries out the soils, causing drought.” He added, “You’re moving the probability curve, and at the tail of the curve are the extreme weather events.”

https://www.voanews.com/a/cali-wildfires-climate-change/4568141.html]Health effects of climate change[/B]