Dry winter in California sparks poor air, fire danger
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- JanforGore
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An unusually dry winter has spelled trouble for parts of California.
Air quality in the Bay Area and Central Valley is the poorest it's been in years. State fire officials have warned of an increased fire danger in Northern California, and ski resorts in the Sierras have been forced to turn to artificial snow.
December was among the driest on record in Northern California. The state Department of Water Resources reported the snowpack water content throughout the Sierra at 19 percent of the average for early January.
And rain is not in the forecast for at least the next week, according to the National Weather Service.
The lack of rainfall and wind has kept car exhaust and smoke from factories and chimneys in place, leading to repeated violations of federal health standards for fine particle pollution in the San Francisco Bay area and Central Valley.
The Bay Area Air Quality Management District has banned wood burning 12 times since Nov. 1 because of air quality concerns.
District spokeswoman Lisa Fasano said the air on Christmas Day -- one of the days wood burning was banned -- rivaled the summer of 2008, when wildfires across California filled the sky with smoke.
"It's fine for the people who have an OK respiratory system, but for children, the elderly and people who have respiratory problems it is potentially dangerous," Fasano told the San Francisco Chronicle.
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The agency said it responded to more wildfires in December than usual. It has increased staffing, canceled burn days and even banned debris burning.
The dry weather follows abundant precipitation last year, when Sierra ski resorts enjoyed one of the snowiest winters in decades.
Tahoe City, located on Lake Tahoe's northwest shore, had 11.4 inches of precipitation in December last year. It only received a trace of that this December.
More at the link
Air quality in the Bay Area and Central Valley is the poorest it's been in years. State fire officials have warned of an increased fire danger in Northern California, and ski resorts in the Sierras have been forced to turn to artificial snow.
December was among the driest on record in Northern California. The state Department of Water Resources reported the snowpack water content throughout the Sierra at 19 percent of the average for early January.
And rain is not in the forecast for at least the next week, according to the National Weather Service.
The lack of rainfall and wind has kept car exhaust and smoke from factories and chimneys in place, leading to repeated violations of federal health standards for fine particle pollution in the San Francisco Bay area and Central Valley.
The Bay Area Air Quality Management District has banned wood burning 12 times since Nov. 1 because of air quality concerns.
District spokeswoman Lisa Fasano said the air on Christmas Day -- one of the days wood burning was banned -- rivaled the summer of 2008, when wildfires across California filled the sky with smoke.
"It's fine for the people who have an OK respiratory system, but for children, the elderly and people who have respiratory problems it is potentially dangerous," Fasano told the San Francisco Chronicle.
snip
The agency said it responded to more wildfires in December than usual. It has increased staffing, canceled burn days and even banned debris burning.
The dry weather follows abundant precipitation last year, when Sierra ski resorts enjoyed one of the snowiest winters in decades.
Tahoe City, located on Lake Tahoe's northwest shore, had 11.4 inches of precipitation in December last year. It only received a trace of that this December.
More at the link
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coolplanet
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This is the present and furure we have chosen.
Get used to it. - 5 months ago
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