Any clues (beyond speculation) as to the cause of the fires?
Any clues (beyond speculation) as to the cause of the fires?
Interesting you would ask this—I wondered about this, too, and found this article...
Clues? Diablo Winds...
https://qz.com/1098211/napa-fires-diablo-winds-are-causing-destructive-wildfire-in-napa-sonoma-yuba/
It’s the worst month possible for a fire to have started in the Golden State. October is the end of California’s dry season and the most vulnerable time for wildfires to spread. The culprit for this particular wildfire is a weather phenomenon called the “Diablo winds” in Northern California, after Mt. Diablo in the eastern Bay Area. (The same phenomenon is called the “Santa Ana winds” in Southern California, after Mt. Santa Ana.)
These winds are created because of high inland pressure, which pushes air down the sides of mountains. The winds warm up and dry out as they travel downward. Late Sunday night (Oct. 8), these winds reached hurricane levels, traveling at 70 mph (110 km/h). The fire started during the peak of the wind event, according to Jan Null, a meteorologist at San Jose State University and formerly with the National Weather Service.
“It’s just about the worst case weather conditions to spread a wildfire quickly, given the fuel,” climate scientist Daniel Swain of the University of California-Los Angeles told the LA Times.