Even the healthiest of forests contain dead trees and decaying plant matter. As strange and counter-intuitive as it may sound, some species of trees actually need forest fires to prosper. What do wildfires do to the atmosphere? Wildfires release large amounts of carbon dioxide, black carbon, brown carbon, and ozone precursors into the atmosphere. These …
Drought can be a contributing factor to wildfire. Dry, hot, and windy weather combined with dried out (and more flammable) vegetation can increase the probability of large-scale wildfires. Drought in your area? Dense wildfire smoke can temporarily block sunlight near the ground, causing regional temperatures to drop by several degrees. Wildfire smoke can also have …
Where a fire occurs, and which direction the winds are blowing, also influences where the particles ultimately end up. Winds can blow smoke toward major cities or up to mountain glaciers, where the particles eventually settle on the ice and snow. On average, smoke particles linger in the atmosphere for up to two to three …
Here are 9 simple actions you can take to prevent future fires in California: Don’t Set Off Pyrotechnics We get it: fireworks are as American as baseball and apple pie, and they sure are fun to set off. Carefully Dispose of Smoking Materials Be it a joint or a cigarette, douse your butts with water …
After collecting data from wildland firefighters in the field, a group of researchers concluded that firefighters’ exposure to smoke can increase the risk of mortality from lung cancer, ischemic heart disease, and cardiovascular disease. Is smoke from a wildfire bad for You? And when smoke is heavy, such as can occur in close proximity to …
Most major wildfires in California happen in fall, at the end of dry, hot summers. California is the second-most forested state in the country ( Alaska is first). In recent years, California’s climate has gotten hotter. Drier conditions mean less snowpack in the Sierras, less runoff in the spring, and less moisture for vegetation. These …
