Worst Summer Ever??

[jibler]

So I had some fun there back in may - in the snow!

but through combination of work stuff, extreme heat and smoky forecasts - damn kid this is the most inactive in like 10 years for me.


Is it just me? it does seem above average crappy kinda right? there's like a whole mountain range on fire in utah right now.

but maybe i got it wrong? sounds like people still getting it done maybe.

[ekalina]

Lots of people still getting out, but you'd have to really look the other way to not notice that we're kind of circling the drain at this point.

[cottonmountaineering]

bad news is that a lot of stuff is on fire right now
good news is that a lot of the stuff on fire has never burned in the past 100 years and was long overdue, when they go through another burn cycle in a decade or two it is much less catastrophic

[ekalina]

bad news is that a lot of stuff is on fire right now
good news is that a lot of the stuff on fire has never burned in the past 100 years and was long overdue, when they go through another burn cycle in a decade or two it is much less catastrophic

I agree. But as for some more bad news, some of that decreased burn intensity is probably going to be due to a long-term shift away from forests and towards grasslands in many burn scars. It may be too hot and dry for forests to regrow within many foothills locations in the West (e.g., 5500-8000 ft elevation in Colorado).

What got me thinking about this was when I noticed that the nearby Black Tiger (1989) and Overland (2003) scars are still devoid of much vegetation other than grass. And there is some research to back up this anecdotal observation, e.g., https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1815107116

[Veory]

Indeed, the forests of Colorado are losing habitat. Some will move upwards to higher elevations, but since treeline is constant for a species the band in which forests can exist will continue to shrink, leaving CO looking more like NM over the years. I doubt anything can be done to change it at this point, at least NM is pretty too.

[ekalina]

Indeed, the forests of Colorado are losing habitat. Some will move upwards to higher elevations, but since treeline is constant for a species the band in which forests can exist will continue to shrink, leaving CO looking more like NM over the years. I doubt anything can be done to change it at this point, at least NM is pretty too.

Right. And therefore by extension...Wyoming is the new Colorado?

[Wentzl]

Summit before noon?

Why bother?

No rain, no storms, no worries.

Best season ever!

[Scott P]

Is it just me? it does seem above average crappy kinda right? there's like a whole mountain range on fire in utah right now.

but maybe i got it wrong? sounds like people still getting it done maybe.

Agreed. I can't wait for fall and winter.

[greenonion]

Indeed, the forests of Colorado are losing habitat. Some will move upwards to higher elevations, but since treeline is constant for a species the band in which forests can exist will continue to shrink, leaving CO looking more like NM over the years. I doubt anything can be done to change it at this point, at least NM is pretty too.

Right. And therefore by extension...Wyoming is the new Colorado?

NO!!

[Dave B]

Why doesn't Governor Polis tariff WA and OR? Is he stupid?

[cottonmountaineering]

bad news is that a lot of stuff is on fire right now
good news is that a lot of the stuff on fire has never burned in the past 100 years and was long overdue, when they go through another burn cycle in a decade or two it is much less catastrophic

I agree. But as for some more bad news, some of that decreased burn intensity is probably going to be due to a long-term shift away from forests and towards grasslands in many burn scars. It may be too hot and dry for forests to regrow within many foothills locations in the West (e.g., 5500-8000 ft elevation in Colorado).

What got me thinking about this was when I noticed that the nearby Black Tiger (1989) and Overland (2003) scars are still devoid of much vegetation other than grass. And there is some research to back up this anecdotal observation, e.g., https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1815107116

yep some of those burn scars will last a long time, everything needs to burn and the longer we wait the hotter the fire will burn

[Tony1]

If there's a silver lining, it's that the first big monsoon surge absolutely stunted fire activity here in CO. Not to discount the destruction caused to a Ouray neighborhood by a debris flow. With more rain coming, the transition to a warm/wet summer may yield a great mushroom season too. In August '22 I saw so many mushrooms I wouldn't have imagined existed in CO on just one hike. Plus the second wildflower bloom, depending on location, etc.

But by and large, yes it's rough and it would be normal to think so.

You would think that a summer like this would be a reckoning moment for those bright minds who still think we're dealing with a normal Milankovitch cycle or whatever the preferred excuse is, but...