Hi All,

Wednesday 9/11/24 starting at 5:30 PM via Zoom will be the Fire Safe Council of Siskiyou County’s Monthly meeting. Link below.Stopping by to share information will be  

Jill Drinkwater, Regional Business Manager | Pacific Power Siskiyou, Modoc, & Del Norte Counties

Don’t miss this one! Agenda attached.

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87263535106?pwd=XAi1vO9bJaVm7QlArtp9jwcve8hKaY.1

Meeting ID: 872 6353 5106
Passcode: 939718Giselle Nova 

CoordinatorFire Safe Council of Siskiyou County
(530) 926-2089
(530) 859-0384 cell

https://krcrtv.com/news/local/celebrate-900-event-to-highlight-dunsmuirs-firewise-achievement-on-sept-7#

Celebrate 900 event to highlight Dunsmuir’s Firewise achievement on Sept 7 The town of Dunsmuir is celebrating becoming the 900th Firewise community in California and the 1st in Siskiyou County.The community has been working very hard krcrtv.com

https://www.ci.dunsmuir.ca.us/news/2024/9/6/see-you-tonight-on-abc-7-redding

See you Tonight on ABC 7 Redding! — City of Dunsmuir KRCR ABC 7 Redding came up to do a story on tomorrow’s Celebrate 900 Event at the Community Center. www.ci.dunsmuir.ca.us

The Mount Shasta Area Fire Safe Council’s Quarterly Meeting will be on September 5, 2024, at 3:30 PM. Please join us to catch up on the latest news concerning fire safe issues in the Mount Shasta Area

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86023411916?pwd=uKzSgfapwOqkcqdNkpEUJ2x2E7bL9B.1

Meeting ID: 860 2341 1916

Passcode: 924344

From Dr. Daniel Swain at Weatherwest.com

Today (Labor Day), elevated fire weather risk is present across far eastern and interior Northern CA as well as the Great Basin/eastern OR region (including Reno/Tahoe) as a combination of dry/windy conditions, plus isolated dry lightning, increases both the likelihood of new ignitions and potential behavior on fires. Although winds will die down in the coming days, temperatures will rise and humidity will drop–further drying out the landscape at a time when many regions are already nearing peak seasonal dryness. This will be true across a broad region from Southern California northward into central Washington/Oregon and eastward across the Great Basin and Rockies. In fact, it’s probably simpler to list the areas that I think will not see substantially increased wildfire activity in the coming days: the North Coast of CA (too damp and cool this summer!), far western OR/WA (not hot enough during this event and too damp as of late) and perhaps portions of the Four Corners vicinity (where Monsoon 2024 has been very active). Numerous large and active fires are already burning in Idaho, Montana, and western Wyoming, and this activity will likely expand and intensity considerably over the next 1-2 weeks as widespread heat and generally below average precipitation persists.

There are a couple of additional wrinkles. A handful of weaker troughs and possibly associated low pressure systems will pass through the upper portion of the ridge over the next 2 weeks. These will bring periods of cooler weather (especially along the coast) as well as occasionally breezy to windy conditions. Because this will occur in the broader context of hotter than average temperatures, and amid generally dry fuel conditions, these periods of occasional onshore winds will likely feature windows of increased wildfire risk across a broad zone.

Also, there are some weak hints that one of two of these modest low pressure systems could generate a few showers or thunderstorms (possibly containing little precipitation) at times from NorCal northward (mainly over mountains), and that could lead to some scattered new lightning ignitions as they would occur immediately following another major heatwave and drying event. For now, I don’t foresee this as a huge risk but collectively it does appear the pieces are coming together in a way that will be favorable for a major surge in wildfire activity across a broad region, with localized episodes of more extreme fire weather possible due to a combination of heat, stronger winds, and lightning. It’s unlikely that most locations will see all three of these, but I think there’s a pretty good chance of a robust “second season” from a wildfire perspective this year (following the initial July surge, there may well be another in Sep into Oct in some regions).

Courtesy of Doctor Daniel Swain at weatherwest.com

As previously noted, this autumn looks like an especially warm one across the interior Western U.S. and likely extending increasingly toward the coast in CA (especially central and southern CA) Sep through Oct or Nov. The latest batch of seasonal model outlooks came out a few days ago, and they continue to paint a similar picture: very high odds of a broadly much warmer than average airmass over the Southwest for autumn, and also a modest tilt in the odds toward a drier-than-average autumn (especially Sep and Oct and especially in central and southern CA as well as the central/southern Rockies). Unless there is another “saved by the bell” moment (like last year’s tropical soaking from Hilary or a very early season atmospheric river up north), this likely portends a very active autumn fire season across much of CA and the interior West–potentially leading to a second peak in fire activity that could eclipse July’s wildfire surge despite conditions that will likely not be quite as hot.

Why is this the case? Well, vegetation in most of California and across much of the interior West (outside of the core monsoon zone in the deep SW) reaches peak seasonal dryness in September or October following the canonically long and dry summer (which, in many spots, has been record hot to date). That, combined with a spurt of grass and brush growth thanks to milder and wetter growing conditions the past 2 winters and springs, means there’s both more fuel for the (potential) fires at lower elevations as well as the potential for vegetation to be even drier than usual (perhaps approaching record dryness levels again) in precisely those areas most susceptible to autumn heatwaves and offshore (Santa Ana/Diablo) wind events (and therefore wind-driven fires). That could be a volatile combination this year, and updated seasonal outlooks from federal fire agencies mirror this concern.

We don’t have any ability to predict offshore wind events at seasonal scale, nor (beneficial) atypical rain events or (harmful) autumn lightning outbreaks. But we can, to a reasonable degree of certainly, predict how anomalously warm the autumn may be–and we also know with 100% certainty what came before (i.e., a wet winter/spring and record hot July). The stage is therefore set for a potentially fiery autumn–perhaps much more so than “usual”–but we could get lucky (or unlucky) with early rains, offshore wind events, or fall lightning events. That is to say: while the predictable aspects of autumn fire risk are ringing alarm bells, that isn’t always the whole story (based, essentially, on luck in one direction or another). But I do think it’s quite likely that this autumn will feature much more active fire conditions not only in California (where this is not uncommon) but also across portions of the interior West (where it is decidedly less common)–and almost certainly more active conditions than the past couple of (relatively quiet) years. So…enjoy the relative reprieve over the next 10 days or so, and stay tuned!

Save the Date!
October 9 – December 11, 2024
 
 


Register now for a California Forest Stewardship Workshop

 Online October 9 – December 11, 2024, and in-person Saturday, November 2nd in
Humboldt County

Join the workshop to better understand and protect your forests by developing a Forest Management Plan. Topics include:
•Forest management objectives and planning
•Forest health
•Forest and fire ecology, wildlife, watersheds
•Fuels reduction, targeted grazing, and forest resource marketing
•Mapping, inventory and silviculture
•Project development & permitting
•Getting professional help and cost-share opportunities
Participants will utilize online resources on their own time to complete learning modules and short activities.
Zoom meetings with all participants and presenters will take place once a week on Wednesdays, 6:00pm-7:30pm. The in-person field day will cover silviculture, forest inventory and mapping activities. Participants who complete the workshop will be eligible for a free site visit with a California Registered Professional Forester, California Certified Burn Boss, or California Certified Range Manager.
All forest landowners across California are welcome to join!
Registration is available at:
http://ucanr.edu/forestryworskhopregistration
Registration fee is $60.00.
Scholarship funding for registration fee is available.
For questions, contact Kim Ingram, kcingram@ucanr.edu. 

 
 

UC ANR Forest Stewardship | http://ucanr.edu/forestryworkshops