Our western Washington & even into eastern Washington got rain. Of course, lots of rain where the wildfires aren't & spotty rain where the the wildfires are. Hopefully some of the wildfires get doused with rain. Along with the rain tho, lightning is hitting lots of areas too. PS.....1:50AM, it is now said that our lightning was the most significant that we have had since 2019! 188 bolts of lightning were recorded around western Washington. Our immediate area had no lightning. PS, 6PM.....After the rain yesterday, we have rain again this evening. I got 2 nice walks earlier, but I don't want to walk anymore this evening. Radar indicates that the Olympic Peninsula got lots of rain & lesser rain west of the Cascade Mtns. No rain occurred in Eastern Washington, as what rain there is, came from the south, like yesterday's rain.
As to-date, 2024 U.S. wildfires have burned 4.4 million acres, which is a bit below the ten-year average. Lots of burns got to large sizes. I think, between cooling weather & aerial water & retardant tankers, fire-fighters have really got some control of the largest fires. Still, there are months left in the fire season.
9:41AM.....Eastern Salish Sea(Puget Sound) & western Washington is getting rain right now. Yeah, that's what opening Fair Days do in western Washington state. A low pressure system is on the Pacific Ocean rotating a rain system into our area. Funny, the low is so big, that the rain is moving off the Pacific Ocean, inland on southern Oregon & northern California. It rotates into eastern Oregon & continues to rotate into southeastern Washington. Locally here is western Washington, the rain is coming from the southeast, a full 90arcdegs from its normal southwest direction. The system actually appears to be coming from the Cascade Mountains, but the big Pacific Ocean low is controlling the rotating wind direction all over northern California & the Pacific Northwest. PS....9:25PM......Whoa! This big low pressure system has developed from big to absolutely monstrously awesome! On a smaller scale, the system looks like individual weather systems, spread from the very northern tip of Mexico, all the way north to half-way(& further north?) of the southern halves of British Columbia, Alberta, & Saskatchewan. East-West reaches are from the northwestern tip of North Dakota, all the way into hundreds of miles of the Pacific Ocean, west of the west coast of the continental U.S. The only way to see that all these systems are inter-connected is a radar map that is put in motion & acting over many hours, showing the co-ordinated rotation of the weather system. The radar mapping is phenomenal.
It has been raining for 24(+?) hours in Western Washington with hours of rain to continue(Fair Days, ya know). We may get a month's worth of rain during the week-end. The awesome low pressure system has shifted north engulfing the entire mentioned provinces of Canada & extending south to California. Altho the low is north moving, the high altitude Jet Stream is west off the west coast of the U.S., traveling south, seemingly wrapping around the large low pressure area if the 2 events are interacting. Despite the rain dumped by the low on Western Washington, many fires are still burning from northern Canada to Mexico. The low pressure area outside its wet affect on Western Washington, has generated hundreds(thousand?) bolts of lightning, & may be sustaining (not ending) wildfires in Canada & the U.S.
Two hundred & fifty Western Washington military personnel have been sent to Idaho to fight wildfires in Idaho. https://idahocapitalsun.com/2024/08...-fighting-idahos-west-mountain-complex-fires/ From the article: One military verteran, Sam Bowen, said he allowed himself to fight fires for one year & he's been fighting fires in every western state now for 15 years. All together over 1000 people are fighting one major blaze in Idaho.
As stated I love to watch the videos of wildfire tanker aircraft in action, the Viking 515 able to dump 7.4 tons of water on the fires at a time. On some of the fires, I've seen 10 Viking 515 aircraft dumping 74 tons of water on fires in one fire drop cycle. I think Global Warming will mandate that 20 future Viking 515's will be necessary, able to dump 2200 tons(more?) of water during the course of a day. Yeah, with emphasis on the word "necessary". Now, I came across a video, showing these wonderful aircraft operating at Wenatchee! Yes, right from docks that I've stood on(& previously mentioned), cameras have videoed these aircraft scooping water out of the Columbia River. Accelerating to 200+MPH, these craft moved up-river & ascended to 2000+ foot ridges, to dump water on fires.
As of September 1, 2024, 6,418,477 U.S. acres have been burned. That number sounds like a lot, but it could have been worse for sure. Parts of the western U.S. have had, at least a bit of rain to hold burns to a lower level. Plus, the aerial tankers are increasingly being co-ordinated to fight fires. As stated, A-I is taking first steps to fight wildfires, too. My state of Washington, at least on the western side of the Cascade Mtns, has had opportune levels of rain that really curtailed our western Washington fires.
As stated a number of times, aerial water tankers team up to fight fires. I've seen as many as 10 Viking 415 airplanes dump water in quick co-ordinated succession. I liked to see helicopters dumping water, altho up to today I've had a personal bias against the economic & physical efficiency of helicopter water drops. But today I saw a years' old video showing how well water bearing helicopters can co-ordinate with ground based fire fighting teams. A large bull-dozer with a fire-warding large dozer blade rapidly cleared a strip through brushy terrain. Following was a large team of walking fire-fighters with picks, shovels & axes, as best they could, preparing a rapidly constructed fire break. Just feet in front of the bull-dozer was a water bearing helicopter, hovering & dumping water on the burning brush fire, cooling the fire so the bull-dozer could operate effectively to snuff the flames. It was amazing to see the helicopter, bull-dozer & men afoot operating so efficiently together.
Winds from wildfires in Oregon & California (yeah, we have wildfires in Eastern Washington, too), are predicted to smoke up our Western Washington state now. Fortunately for months, wind directions have kept our Western Washington skies good. But, the sun is setting in the west now & is orange-red & accurate predictions are showing our descent into smokey skies. PS....Well, had two surgeries in 7 months. That means I'm old. Anyhow, I'm recovering from the 2nd surgery & walked to the river & thru some of the Bottomland just now. Fish are rolling in the river, so fish runs are on. Yes, the smoke is here, but in the Bottomland, the air is still fairly fresh. The Osprey have left the Tower nest to migrate south. Girls in bikinis(moms too) are squeezing the last of the summer, out of the summer. PS I....OK, walked 3.7 miles today. I'm recovering from the surgery. Alright!
Hi Litesong: When I was in Las Vegas last Mon. - Wed., I could smell the smoke from the California wild fires in my hotel. You could see the haze when walking out onto the street too. Wayne
From August 9, 2024: As of September 18, 2024, total Oregon wildfires have powered to 1.9 million acres, which is not quite 1 million acres MORE than the fires in California! With good response from Washington state wildfire fighters AND intermittent rain storms, Washington has limited to 300,000, its acres burned.
5:45PM....Its been raining for hours. Somebody keeps deleting my posts & other people's posts. Anyhow, supposed to rain another hour or so. 11:40PM……The rain continues. The rain may continue for 1.5 hours & then stop. It really must be Autumn!
