That looks… ominous…
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Currently raining determinedly if not heavily, with regular lightning and the odd rumble.
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We’ve been getting some rain here, too the past few days. My mom called today and said it had hailed up their way yesterday (she’s about 20 miles away or so). And I went out a bit ago, and it was overcast and actually kind of chilly (like in the low 70s!).
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It has been warm and humid here for days but showery. Daytime weather is April. Nighttime weather is August storms.
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Friends and family (well, one of each)
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It’s evidently for strength and flexibility, but primarily to distribute nutrients and water evenly throughout the roots and branches (Why Do Trees Grow in Spirals? — Washington Trails Association). I never really thought about it before, because you can only see it on dead snags
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Summerhaven evacuated. Apparently looks really bad from the East side.
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You’re not too close to all this, are you? Do you think you’ll need to evacuate? Is it heading in your direction? that’s like 3 questions that are the same question… sorry.
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Puts me in mind a little of Thekla, a cargo ship in Bristol, turned into a music venue.
I went to see Dragonforce there, of all things.
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While I’m technically fairly close (2½ miles as the crow flies from the foothills), there is no chance that I’d have to evacuate. Summerhaven is a tiny set of homes and lodges near the top of the mountains and surrounded by parkland. Other evacuation threatened areas are sparsely developed tony neighborhoods that abut the parkland and are up in the foothills. We live in “Midtown”, and the fire would have to cross ten 4-lane roads and a broad wash (dry river-bed) to get to us.
That neighborhood (due north of us in the foothills) did have to evacuate briefly, but they’re back now.
My parents live quite close to the mountains, but there’s one good, defensible road between them and the dangerous areas. Also, since this is technically desert, the fire is not as severe as it would be in either full forest or grassland: what makes it hard on the firefighters is that the terrain is vertical, and the ground is largely rock, so creating breaks up there is going to be well neigh impossible. We’re doing a little prep in case they want to evacuate from smoke, though.
Wind direction really changes how severe it looks from here:
In actuality, the fire is no better this morning than it was yesterday.
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That’s good to hear. I’m glad you are safe from the fires and how your parents stay safe, too, but it’s good you live so close to them so you can take them in if the smoke gets bad.
Still scary, tho. And thanks for updates.
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Now there’s a picture showing why it’s so hard to fight this in the mountains:
Summerhaven was responsible for one of the worst fires in the Catalinas, a few decades ago. There was a lot of thought about whether anyone should be allowed to rebuild, but they do have some better building codes now and I think they maintain a lot of firebreaks normally, and those have been bolstered during the fire.
40% contained is promising, though.
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Thanks! I’m learning a lot about this (as it’s not a problem we generally have out here).
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Oooh, garlic scapes!
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Holy fuck!!!
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Perspective is tricky, but the mountains behind the first ridge (a couple of peaks are just visible) are roughly a mile higher than where we are in the city.
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What’s the cut-off tree in the third photo? Please, not a tree-of-heaven - you’re doomed if it is.
I think I see a branch of invasive bush honeysuckle in the upper left. Luckily that one is easy to yank out the ground, roots and all.
I was in the yard weeding all day, hence the everything-looks-like-a-weed filter.
What I got done:
Still to go:
(That’s just the side yard. Sigh…)
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