The Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon fire last year burned more than 340,000 acres in northern New Mexico, leaving the air smoky, the land barren and water systems clogged with ash. To this day, water pollution continues to put the health of more than 13,000 residents of Las Vegas, New Mexico, at risk.
The Colorado River this spring ran high, fast and so full of sediment pushed downstream from wildfire burn scars that the water treatment plant in Hot Sulphur Springs couldn’t keep up.
The sediment repeatedly clogged the town’s intake valves, forcing town leaders to issue and emergency order in April and call for residents to voluntarily cut back on water use.
The Cruelest Summer Yet? California Is Facing Drought, Heat, Power Outages and Fires — All at Once
Even with the upheaval of the pandemic mostly behind us, the menace of drought and rising temperatures is threatening to derail the return to normal.
This year’s extraordinarily dry, warm weather, which is expected to continue in the coming months, is stoking fears of a multitude of problems: increasing water restrictions, extreme heat, power outages, wildfire and smoke — potentially all of the above in one vicious swoop.
The U.S. national drought early-warning information system, called NIDIS, gave a rundown Thursday on when much of the Southwest will experience conditions that heighten the potential for wildfire.
Drought is one of the main drivers because less water means drier soils, drier plants and drier air, all conditions that fuel wildfire.
According to NIDIS projections, above-average wildfire potential creeps into the San Diego region (mostly along mountain ridges or high altitudes where winds are strong and fuel is plentiful) come September.
When a wildfire tore through drought-stricken towns near Boulder, Colo., late last year, it reminded Americans that fire risk is changing. It didn’t matter that it was winter. It didn’t matter that many of the more than 1,000 homes and other structures lost sat in suburban subdivisions, not forested enclaves. The old rules no longer applied.
Snowfall in western Colorado elevated some snowpack levels to above-average conditions but that snowy weather must continue for it to recharge the parched soil, diminishing streams and low reservoir levels, climate data shows.
While the Western Slope is in much better shape than it was in early December, Becky Bolinger, a climatologist with Colorado State University, said the eastern portion of the state hasn’t been so fortunate. There, wildfire risk persists and crops and livestock could suffer from the lack of moisture, she said.
To visualize the hellishness of the climate crisis in 2021, look no further than General Sherman, the world’s largest tree, wrapped in fire-resistant foil to protect the legendary giant sequoia from flames burning a path of destruction through the Sierra Nevada.
California’s so-called Ancient Ones evolved with fire. It’s crucial to their reproductive cycle. But they aren’t prepared for blazes like those of the last year, which are burning hotter and more intensely as Earth warms, mostly because of the combustion of fossil fuels. Last year, flames killed roughly 10% of the world’s giant sequoias.
Drought. Wildfires. And, for the country as a whole, temperatures worse than the Dust Bowl.
In a further bit of evidence of the reality of climate change, California has just experienced its hottest summer on record, according to data released this week by the federal government.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the average temperature in California reached 77.3 degrees from June to August. That topped the previous record of 76.5 degrees in summer 2017.
California lawmakers on Thursday voted to spend more than $2 billion to prevent wildfires and address a severe drought, closing the book — for now — on a $262.5 billion operating budget that began the year with a record deficit because of the pandemic and ended with a record surplus in spite of it.
California and several other Western states endured the hottest summer on record, according to federal data released Thursday, underscoring the ways rapid climate change is unleashing unprecedented wildfires, deadly heat waves and drought conditions. In addition to California, officials said Idaho, Nevada, Oregon and Utah also set all-time heat records for the meteorological summer, spanning June through August.
The Water News Network is San Diego County’s source for water news and information.
