Wildfires


Well, I don't know if this news has crossed the pond yet, or indeed other parts of the world, but, Southern Europe and much of North Africa have been literally 'SET A LIGHT!' I have never, in my fifteen years reporting climate change seen so many fires breaking out, simultaneously, in my life, what I'm seeing since yesterday makes the fires in Australia, in 2019, California the following year and the ones in Canada last year look like a walk in the park! Ok, that quote is maybe a tad exaggerated, however, what is happening in France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, the Balkans, Greece, Turkey and many parts of North Africa at the moment is quite honestly frightening and disturbing.

It is so bad one reporter claimed on the BBC this morning, "July will be unlivable over here [Southern Europe] very soon!" The talking heads, experts and climate buffs' are describing the fires as 'Biblical,' how right they are—' for once anyway.' 



Friday, 12 August 2022 Nay-sayers, deniers, and sceptics, Our dear Lord gave you your own eyes and ears—USE THEM! Look around and wake up—Observe and take notice, our weather is not acting as it should be! The fires, heat, droughts and even floods are killing people, wildlife, agriculture and the planet!

Europe is on track to suffer its worst drought in hundreds of years, with wildfires raging and some rivers running dry. Several countries have introduced emergency measures to save water, even the UK. 

The Northern Hemisphere is moistureless—With droughts from California to China, I have never known a summer like this. Western Europe is parched as we enter the next heatwave with no rain in sight for August. The drought weather here in Holland started in the middle of Feb! Coincidently after three once-in-a-hundred-year storms in just one week! Ironically at that time many places in Ireland, the UK and many parts of Europe suffered horrendous flooding. Since then there has been no meaningful rainfall in the UK, and many parts of Europe.



Today it was particularly wonderful, a warm August sun, fanned with a cool southwesterly breeze, the birds were singing, the fish were jumping and the insects chirping and the walk itself gave me a double shot of happy endorphins, lifting my spirit for the day ahead.

It is hard to imagine that just a few hundred kilometres south from this paradise the gates of hell have opened for many of my European neighbours.

An anti cyclone, ironically named Lucifer has parked its fat butt over the Mediterranean countries of Italy, Greece and Spain causing Sicily to record the hottest temperature ever in Europe when the mercury hit 48.8 deg C, 120 deg F yesterday beating the 48 deg C which was recorded in Athens Greece, back in 1977.


Tuesday, 10 August 2021 Nowhere to run nowhere to hide: From a Covid Pandemic to vaccine hysteria, climate change, wildfires, heatwaves, droughts, floods cold-snaps, animal die-offs and a very vulnerable magnetic field: Earth appears to on the brink

Groups of families, friends and colleagues are becoming more and more divided with no choice but to pick sides regarding their vaccine status. There is so much mistrust, doubt, skepticism and suspicion of governments, scientists, (big Pharma) and the media.

While big Pharma have once again hit the jackpot and raked in billions of dollars from covid jabs, "We The People" are left bewildered, confused and confounded as to what is the correct action to take because we have been lied to so often before, we don't know what or who to believe anymore.

Is the vaccination an experimental medicine that has not yet been approved? Or is it perfectly safe? We don't know very much about them either, especially the long time side effects, we just don't know.


Monday, 9 August 2021 Unliveable series! On the very day, the UN claims Global warming is 'unequivocally' at an unprecedented rate Southern Europe becomes the third continent in the last three years to be devastated by out-of-control record-breaking wildfires after Aus and the US.

Firefighters on the Greek island of Evia say its survival hangs 'minute by minute' on heat, wind, and rain as few residents stay behind to fend off the flames.

The Prime Minister of Greece has described the situation as ‘nightmarish.' Firefighters are struggling to contain the flames near the capital Athens.
A record heatwave is fueling devastating wildfires across much of the southern Mediterranean and eastern Europe. Hundreds of blazes have broken out – many of them multiplying in recent days.

Italy, Croatia, Greece, Bulgaria, Turkey, Albania, Kosovo, North Macedonia, and Ukraine are tackling dozens of wildfires. Scientists have linked them largely to the intense heat - which they say is made more likely and more severe by global warming.


“We used to say ‘unprecedented and historic.’ We’re past that now.” Sugar fire becomes California’s first ‘megafire’ of the year as the Dixie fire triples in size; California experienced a record wildfire season in 2020 but 2021 is already outpacing it

As the Dixie fire in Butte County balloons in size, the Sugar fire burning in Plumas National Forest north of Sacramento has become the first 100,000-acre fire in California this year. The lightning-sparked Sugar fire ignited July 2 and quickly swelled in size as crews battled extreme temperatures and strong gusts of wind.

In the days that followed, spot fires and flareups made it difficult for firefighters to gain a footing on the blaze, officials said. At one point, it grew with such velocity that its massive cloud of smoke, ash, and heat generated its own lightning.

Extreme weather continues to wreak havoc across the planet with farmers, agriculture, wildlife, and humans all taking a hit on the chin from the unusually bad weather.

Unusual and unseasonal cold, record-breaking heat and droughts, wildfires, and killer floods are creating absolute havoc in the summer of 2021 as climate change becomes, "CLIMATE CHANGED!"

Unusual freezing temperatures and frost have harmed and damaged trees which will affect next year's coffee crops in many parts of Brazil. The country has suffered all year with drought and flooding and the cold snap is the final slap in the face for coffee producers.

It is early summer in the US and already Oregon is on the verge of suffering its biggest wildfire ever. The Bootleg Fire has been raging for two weeks and has become so intense it is creating its own weather, a phenomenon we have seen in California and Australia recently. So far the fire has ravaged nearly 400,000 acres and is approaching the biggest ever recorded wildfire in Oregon, which was the Long Haul Fire in 2012 which destroyed almost 560,000 acres. The fire is only 30% contained and has already destroyed an area the size of Los Angeles.

Upwards of nearly 100 wildfires are raging across 13 states in the US at this moment according to The National Interagency Fire Centre. The hot tinder-dry conditions will remain for the next two days with 3.5 million people under red flag warnings in the West for more wildfire outbreaks.

For years The Big Wobble has been warning people that extreme summer downpours and heatwaves would cause the places we call home, unliveable, for parts of the year at the very least.

More than 100 people have been killed and hundreds more missing in Germany, Belgium, and southern Holland after record amounts of rain have burst river banks in the areas but it was the speed of the rising water which caught many people unprepared. The UK was hit by a similar deluge at the beginning of this week and the government's advisory climate change committee told ministers the nation was even worse prepared for extreme weather events than it was five years ago, that's because these extreme events are increasing too rapidly for governments to react.

Many people who read my posts covering increasing heat on our planet often leave unhelpful comments such as, "well it's summer," or, "it's supposed to be hot!" These people, of course, are very funny if not observant, however, they often miss the word, "record," or the phrase, "hottest ever." What is happening to our planet's weather recently is astonishing.

California's Death Valley is known to be a hot place, I get that, but it hit 130 degrees Fahrenheit (54.4 degrees Celsius) Friday for only the fifth time in recorded history, that's only five days out of more than 40,000 days on record. The record for the number of consecutive days at 125 degrees or higher is 10, set in 1913 (June 28-July 5). This year, Death Valley hit 126 on July 7 and will likely continue that stretch of days with 125-plus temperatures through Tuesday. This would be eight straight days, which would be the second-longest streak in recorded history (tying eight days in 2013). 


Saturday, 10 July 2021 After hottest June ever, U.S. braces for new heatwave in the West: More drought, more record-breaking heatwaves, wildfires and early named storms on the cards for the US: Nation hit with more than 30 billion dollar disaster bill in just over six-months.

This large hailstone, being held with two hands, fell from a severe thunderstorm at approximately 7:35 pm CDT on April 28, 2021, near Hondo, Texas. NOAA’s NCEI verified that it's the largest hailstone on record to fall in Texas; it had a diameter of 6.416 inches and weighed 1.26 pounds. This severe weather outbreak across Oklahoma and Texas was one of eight separate billion-dollar disasters that struck the U.S during the first six months of 2021. (Resident submitted photo, courtesy of National Weather Service Forecast Office, San Antonio)

As June 2021 has just been announced as the hottest ever in the U.S. by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Tropical Storm Elsa was announced as the earliest 5th named storm in the Atlantic season ever, (typically the 5th named storm of a season usually arrives at about the end of August) the nation has been hit with a more than 30 billion-dollar disaster bill for 2021 in just over six-months.


Thursday, 17 June 2021 The crazy season is up and running ladies and gentlemen. After one of the coldest May's on record on both sides of the pond, the heatwaves and wildfires are back. the temperature in Death Valley, California, on Wednesday, was 126 degrees F, 52.22 deg C

The crazy season is up and running ladies and gentlemen. After one of the coldest May's on record on both sides of the pond, the heatwaves and wildfires are back. Massive wildfires are burning in Arizona, California, New Mexico, Utah and Montana. The last three summers have seen record-breaking wildfire seasons in the US with each season beginning earlier and ending later.

The Telegraph fire in southeastern Arizona is currently estimated at 165,740 acres.  This fast-moving, dynamic fire has prompted numerous evacuation status alerts.

The Pinnacle Fire, South of Phoenix is estimated at 15,801 acres. Fire weather conditions have been extreme, resulting in active fire behaviour. Night shift crews have been working through the night on improving constructed fire lines. The fire continues to grow due to the availability of fuels and rough terrain that limits safe access by ground forces. 


Wildfires 2019

Wildfires 2016/18

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