| Reset Thirteen, Day Five |
[Sep. 29th, 2020|06:58 am]
rejectomorph
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Apocalypse can be so tiring. After a hot, smokey Monday I had to have a nap, which lasted from around six o'clock to after midnight. It wasn't a very good nap, and I don't feel rested, but I'd surely have felt even wore without it. Of course now my schedule is totally screwed, and I have no idea when I'll be able to sleep again. The smell of the air suggests that when the sun comes up it will be red again, as the moon has been all night, but it probably won't be one of those very dark days. The smoke is thick, but not that thick.
As the wind has been from the northwest, it is probably the new fire that started in Shasta County early Sunday that provided our re-smoked atmosphere. It exploded to 15,000 acres Sunday and had doubled to more than 30,000 acres by Monday night. 146 structures have been destroyed, three people are known dead, and a major electric transmission line that runs through the area is threatened. I don't know if this could lead to a blackout in Chico or not, but it would be a very bad day to have one. It's going to be very hot, and I'll have great need of the air conditioning.
Wind has already diminished somewhat tonight, and is expected to veer around to the SSW by afternoon, so the smoke might clear a bit. It won't vanish completely as there is fire in that direction as well, just somewhat farther a way. Sunday night an outlying neighborhood of Santa Rosa was consumed. The Napa-Sonoma fires have tripled in size, now covering 36,000 acres, and have led to the evacuation of some 65,000 people form Napa and Sonoma counties, including the entire town of Calistoga. Currently this complex (in this case three fires that could merge into one) is the one most likely to precipitate a catastrophe.
The two days of wind also caused the Butte County North Complex fires to flare up again, and Paradise and Magalia are still under an evacuation warning. This is likely to continue even as winds diminish later today, as the diminished winds will be blowing from the fire toward the Paradise ridge. The stronger winds expected on Wednesday will be from the northwest again, so that should reduce the danger to what's left of Paradise. Unfortunately it will also increase the danger to some areas around the Zogg (Shasta County) Glass (Napa County) and Shady (Sonoma County) fires. This will be week when northern California can't win for losing. |
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