CA Wildfires

[asterroc]

If you haven't been following the news about the wildfires around LA and south-western California, the satellite photo below tells the picture pretty well.



Note that the fires are producing the white smoke that looks nearly like rain clouds. I believe the tan streaks off of Mexico are sand and dirt being blown by the winds. Red spots are where the fire is currently burning. If you click on the image, you'll get a higher res version from NASA, and if you pick "250m pixel size" you'll get the highest available.

If you live in SoCal, expect asthma and allergy problems. Apparently most of the soot particles are small enough that they'll go right through normal dust masks. If you have birds, get them out of the region, North or East, if you can.

Comments

Re: half a million people displaced.

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm guessing the amount of property damage won't be as bad for this fire as it was for Katrina. Plus, even if it were, most homeowners' insurance covers fire, but NOT flood w/o separate flood insurance, so homeowners will be better off here. And I feel like the average income of people in SoCal is better than pre-Katrina New Orleans.