Cooler temperatures may help in battling California blaze

CNN ^ | 9/1/2009 | CNN

[Reeses]

Cooler temperatures Tuesday could help firefighters slow down a fast-moving, deadly wildfire that has charred more than 105,000 acres in Southern California.

...

The fire, which has sent thick smoke spiraling as much as 20,000 feet into the air, is creating its own wind patterns, officials said. As a result, it has become unpredictable.

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Triple-digit temperatures combined with low humidity helped the Station Fire more than double in size on Monday from at least 40,000 acres to more than 100,000 acres.

[Reeses]

This sequence happens every year in CA. Wildfires cause cloud formation which cools the climate. American Indians sometimes used wildfires to cool and increase rain. We should rediscover this old technology. How much energy will this wildfire save in air conditioning costs? Can we mimic the wildfire cloud formation process without the fire?

[bboop]

How much energy will it save? ha, you are forgetting important variables: It is so darned hot and humid, and the air is so thick and foul and ashy, that we ALL are running a/c day and night. You cannot open doors in the evening to let the cool air in because it is NOT cool at night, due to the smoke settling in the basin. Altho AQMD/ the air control district, had forbidden controlled burns because of particulates, we have more particulates than controlled burns would have caused in many decades.

The Indians had only a small piece of the puzzle.

[newbie 10-21-00]

Hey CNN guys: I’m 50 miles from the fire and have lived here a billion years and it’s never been more humid than it has been for the last few days. Facts are your friends. Oops, nevermind; you’re CNN. What I don’t get is how bad/big the fire is given there has been virtually no wind.