Drought?

[Wayne SW/MO]

I haven't been to Boulder in half a century, is it still heavily wooded? You are right about dry deciduous trees, leaved oaks literally sound like blow torches when the burn.

With no relief is sight I can't understand why no fireworks ban. Fireworks stands are still open also so folks will be buying fireworks and once bought they're going to want to set them off.

I've heard nothing here either and it makes me very uneasy given the fact the whole area is heavily wooded. I've got a big oak and a huge cedar close to the house. To make matters worse we have 2 big stands and only about 2000 people who live in this area off the beaten path.

[Tim Smith]

I haven't been to Boulder in half a century, is it still heavily wooded? You are right about dry deciduous trees, leaved oaks literally sound like blow torches when the burn.

I bought a house from a guy who had installed duct work to the wood burning stove. The system was about 10 years old and we used to heat the house for a couple of years..until...I salvaged an old white oak that had blown down during a storm. Heading out to do some work at the office late one winter night, I put 3 big white oak logs on the fire, thinking that would keep everybody warm while I was gone.

An hour later I got a call at the office that the house was full of smoke. The logs had been so dense and hot that they had heated up the duct and caused the insulation around them to smolder.

Once you're burning oak and hickory, you're burning serious fuel.

I've heard nothing here either and it makes me very uneasy given the fact the whole area is heavily wooded. I've got a big oak and a huge cedar close to the house. To make matters worse we have 2 big stands and only about 2000 people who live in this area off the beaten path.

The canyons above the city are heavily wooded. The town itself is on the edge of the prairie, rising into the foothills.

The NOAA lab reported this morning that they had taken the precaution of removing most of the fuel from the perimeter of their property so they don't think they'll take a bad hit if the fire continues into town.

30,000 people evacuated in Colorado Springs last night. The fire apparently jumped a ridge the Forest Service did not think it could breech.

Condolences to your cousins, Ness but their houses might make it yet. I heard 30 houses down so far but it's still going.

The Waldo Canyon fire is now the top national fire fighting priority.

[Wayne SW/MO]

"This is a firestorm of epic proportions," Colorado Springs Fire chief Richard Brown said at a news conference late Tuesday.

I read this earlier and it sounds like he hit the nail on the head. I know from my time living in timbered country out west that fires can mentally taxing, not knowing when they might be halted and concern for the losses takes a toll.

I'm somewhat uncomfortable now with the condition of this area, I know it only will take one accident or one idiot to cause mass destruction.

[ness]

The canyons above the city are heavily wooded. The town itself is on the edge of the prairie, rising into the foothills.

The NOAA lab reported this morning that they had taken the precaution of removing most of the fuel from the perimeter of their property so they don't think they'll take a bad hit if the fire continues into town.

30,000 people evacuated in Colorado Springs last night. The fire apparently jumped a ridge the Forest Service did not think it could breech.

Condolences to your cousins, Ness but their houses might make it yet. I heard 30 houses down so far but it's still going.

The Waldo Canyon fire is now the top national fire fighting priority.

Thanks, Tim. It's also their livelihood if their business goes.

I've got their locations pinpointed on Google Earth, and an overlay of the fire perimeter. Unbelievable.

[drew03cmc]

darn. Wayne, I am kind of dreading the 4th. My father in law is a volunteer firefighter for a township just outside of town here and every year he is out chasing a grass fire or two started by some redneck's great idea, but this year, with the lack of moisture, high heat and winds, we could be in for massive damage. With any luck all of us will wake up on the 5th, to a nice, slow, steady rainstorm that lasts for six days.

In all honesty, we just had a rainstorm that went through Topeka, heading ESE, break apart before it got to me, and that is only about 35 miles as the crow flies. I haven't had rain in weeks. Our temperatures have been over 100 for over a week and we will have another week and a half of 98+. This is the worst I have ever seen it in the summer, but I am only 27.

[Tim Smith]

Colorado has finally gotten a respite with a bit of rain and most of our major fires completely contained. Idaho, Wyoming and Utah still have problems.

Yampa River was put under a voluntary fishery closure due to low water levels...

...caught a nice 12 inch brookie out of there earlier this year. That will be my last there this year.

[Jerry Rapp]

just some more perspective from across the Atlantic Ocean........................

Germany leads the world in renewable energy, they have more wind and solar generated electricity than anyone else. And the man responsible for this is Fritz Vahrenholt. He's spent the past 25 years preparing for climate change.

And now Fritz is changing his tune.

He's written a book , that is a best seller in Germany, that makes the case that any warming in the the past century was due to solar activity and we are now entering a phase of global cooling, due to less solar activity.

This is from the German equivalent of Time Magazine, its called " Der Spiegel " , where they've interviewed Vahrenholt and he says he's been " duped by climate change " . He says the IPCC ( International Panel on Climate Change ) is much more a political organization than a scientific organization, and it has been taken over by Greenpeace.

Here ........

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/breaking-global-warming-taboos-i-feel-duped-on-climate-change-a-813814.html

And the next alarmist domino to fall has been James Lovelock, England's version of Al Gore. He wrote a book a few years ago, said by the century's end there would be billions dieing from global warming.

Now he says he was wrong. Says he can not deny the fact that there has been no global warming for the past 14 years. And that any future warming will be much much less than he claimed just a few years ago.

Here is just a bit of the articles on this guys change in thinking

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2134092/Gaia-scientist-James-Lovelock-I-alarmist-climate-change.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/jun/15/james-lovelock-interview-gaia-theory?intcmp=122

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2161379/This-meaningless-green-drivel-environment-guru-Scientists-U-turn-doomsday-claim.html

http://www.thenewamerican.com/tech/environment/item/11998-%E2%80%9Cclimate-science%E2%80%9D-in-shambles-real-scientists-battle-un-agenda

This so-called " scientific consensus " is falling apart.

Just Google these two men's names, and you can find numerous interviews , and you can also find a lot of character attacks on these men from the enviro left, who have much profit at stake in this debate.

Europe is mired down in economic problems and many in Europe are fixing the cause of a lot of their problems on their cap and trade laws. They are now suffering the economic consequence of expensive energy and re-thinking the entire climate change issue.

[Tim Smith]

Jerry, it is a complete fabrication that the scientific consensus around global warming has changed in any appreciable way.

It has never been hard to find fringe scientists who disagree with the consensus. There are 3,000 members of the National Academy of Sciences. 3% of them disagree with global warming...that leaves 30 reputable people you could have dug up at any time who disagree with the consensus. There have been numerous "position papers" by these little pockets of holdouts, one of them had up to 300 signatures (many of them mechanical engineers, doctors and people entirely out of their field).

The solar hypothesis has been completely refuted.

If you knew Lovelock, you'd never bring him up as a reputable source. He's the guy who came up with the "Gaia hypothesis" that the Earth is a living organism and he has provoked unlimited amounts of eye rolling in academic circles over the decades. Most ecologists don't consider him reputable. He's a crackpot and his previous position that global warming would be cataclysmic was never the mainstream view. If he is backing off that, then he's merely getting back into line.

Quite to the contrary to a disintegrating consensus, new studies are now linking the current drought directly to global warming.

http://www1.ncdc.noa...erson-et-al.pdf

To talk about a scientific reversal now is complete nonsense.

[Jerry Rapp]

you sure must have a hell of a talking point list Tim. You basically said scientists in Germany and the UK don't know anything. Germany is the world leader in green energy, and now they are basically saying they wasted a lot of taxpayer money. You are very solid in your beliefs, but I have never, nor ever will be, a chicken little worried about everything. I guess these greenhouse gases are what caused the glaciers to melt millions of years ago and create the great lakes, Lake Champlain, the candadien lakes, etc. Thankfully in this great country, we can agree to disagree, and then we can go out and fish together, and will even bait your hook! LOL!

[ness]

Drought this year -- turns out to be pretty bad.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57473163/u.s-drought-grows-to-cover-widest-area-since-1956/