re: #59 Charles

Note that these recent weather disasters have been predicted by climate scientists, as one of the consequences of global warming.

It’s difficult to say whether any particular case is directly attributable to climate change, but we’re going to be seeing more of these kinds of extreme weather events, and they’re going to increase in frequency — because we have a large percentage of Americans who’ve been convinced by the right wing that there’s nothing to worry about.

Subtle differences can have huge consequences.

A friend of mine was working for the electric company out near a wildfire, standing by to turn the power off or on as needed, and told me some of what he learned at the fire briefings.

When the humidity was in the single digits, the “spark rate” was 97%, ie. out of 100 sparks, 97 would ignite a fire. The next day the humidity went up to 18%, and the spark rate went down to 64%.

The winds, however, have been relentless. They are typical for this time of year. We have another 5 weeks until the usual start of the rainy season. If it doesn’t come, the fire season gets much worse as it gets longer. And the firefighters will be needed in other regions, like California and the Northwest.