Environmental News

"For now"

For as many days as (the free version of) this model displays:
Windy: Wind map & weather forecast

 

It may actually merit more comment that N Hemisphere forests, dry this year, are not burning more.

 

"armeggedon microdosing"

Mildly amusing as Reddit would say.

 

Look at carbon monoxide:

Windy: Wind map & weather forecast

which is less cheerful.

Difference being that PM2.5 is washed out by rain but CO is not.

 

The smoke has cleared there. So to speak. windy.com shows PM2.5 coming from (ill-intentioned) Oregon trees smoking Oregonian lungs.

And far north Canada engaging in similar domestic violence.

 

Judith Curry Climate Etc. blog has logged off:

Climatologist Judith Curry retires her science blog – CFACT

Two weeks ago. I apologize for reporting delay.

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For me the blog was a place to see those with 'particular views' on how climate operates post many more words than a few hardy opponents put up. There are few other places where planetary resonances, sunspots and such were still offered. Like a museum exhibit safely behind glass.

First thought was to search for an obituary at:

RealClimate: judith curry

realclimate being something like the antiparticle of Climate Etc. But no. Or possibly they are even slower, or planning to bigly stomp on grave later.

Dr. Curry has returned to professoring and selling CFACT products and lending Gravitas to Congressional Committee hearings when needed. More such hearings may be heard in future. As hinted in my next post

 

Attribution of climate-change harms has advanced from its statistically squishy origins to a bit more sturdiness:

The Science of Extreme Event Attribution — Which Analyzes Climate Change’s Influence on Specific Weather Events — Has Advanced, But Challenges Remain

Few here might D/L and read 200+ pages, but we are likely to hear more about attribution in future. Because it is the wedge to $ue CO2 emitters for harm$. Emitters and their fellow travelers in Government are already impugning (Abe Lincoln's) National Academies of Sciences in all ways they can think of.

 

Wildfire area burned in Europe in 2025 was very high but 2026 has caught up:

Tracking the wildfires in Europe, in maps and charts | CNN

 

Current El Nino is increasing intensity and thought by some subject experts to become largest 'ever' (this has an unusually long observational record; essentially since barometers were invented).

El Nino is linked to wildfire and it seems likely to expand as topic of current interest. Maybe better to fire up a separate discussion? But until then, here is a link for context:

Top 13 Largest Wildfires in History | Earth.Org

Ranking fires since 1910 which led to containment policies in US. Canada, Europe and China went the same way later.

Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 5227–5259, 2023
https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-5227-2023

Shows global trends (1997–2020) when earth observing satellite data became accurate enough for this purpose.

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Separate musing. The number of low earth orbit satellites is vastly increasing in numbers now. Their commercial purpose is selling internet access. I wonder if low cost fire sensors could be useful if added to (some of) those? Greenwashing to counteract spoiling astronomers' views?

Second musing, adding sensors for other things ...

 

"This fire had a huge impact on shaping the very young U.S. Forest Service and its fire suppression policies for much of the 20th Century."

Yes, but we can say 'all of the 20th Century' and those policies have not ended.

"Ed Pulaski, who later invented the fire-fighting tool that carries his name, became a hero ..."

Much much yes. It may be impossible for PriusChat readers including me to imagine what it is like to personalty oppose frisky fires.

We can all now remotely sense (large) fires from our easy chairs and happily miss the experience.

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Global fires are increasing; call it climate change or not. I don't care. But global fires are opposed by people locally.