Hardcore story ending badly today pumped by climate change:
Record #heat ??
The exceptional heatwave in ?? has broken all-time temperature records for the third straight day.
To stop extreme weather events from becoming ever more frequent & strong, countries must kick-start a decade of #ClimateAction at #COP26.
?? by @ScottDuncanWX pic.twitter.com/WIPiOPSH1O
— UN Climate Change (@UNFCCC) June 30, 2021
The town noted above, Lytton, was the centerpiece news-spot this past week after breaking the record for highest temperature ever recorded in Canada three days in a row. Now the heat has really arrived — via CTV News this afternoon:
After a dangerous fire forced all residents of a small B.C. village to evacuate their homes Wednesday evening, the province’s solicitor general says some people are still unaccounted for.
Mike Farnworth spoke about Lytton’s devastating blaze at a last-minute news conference Thursday.
“Because the fire hit so fast, people evacuated very quickly, about 1,000 people,” he said.
…
Lytton is located in B.C.’s Fraser Canyon area, about a two-hour drive southwest of Kamloops, and a three-hour drive northeast of Vancouver.“We only had 20 minutes,” said resident Sherry Drynock. “So we packed up our RV and whatever we could.”
RCMP officers were going door to door telling people it was time to leave.
“I didn’t really have clothes or anything, so I kind of bought some clothes,” said Drynock. “Whatever we could grab, blankets, we didn’t really grab food or anything like that.”Lytton Mayor Jan Polderman ordered an evacuation for the entire village at about 6 p.m.
Evacuees were asked to register at the Emergency Social Services building in Merritt, and told they will be provided three days’ worth of supports if needed.
But Farnworth explained residents were asked to leave so quickly, they went different directions to multiple communities and some haven’t registered.
…
Another resident, Ken Aljam said he just had time to grab two laundry baskets with stuff for him and his wife. They managed to get their dogs, but had to abandon their outdoor cats.“There were ashes raining down so it didn’t look very good for anything,” said Aljam. “If it was hell I guess that’s what it looks like.”
Officials reported 90-percent of the village has burned.
Here in California we’re on the edge of a hot-burn season — already some heavy-duty fires in the northern part of the state, but the season is just beginning. At least for now, the smoke is staying up north:
Smoke from wildfires burning in northern CA, including the #SaltFire, #LavaFire, & #TennantFire, is forecast to mostly remain north of the fires due to winds from the south today.
You can view the latest smoke forecast on our website at https://t.co/DLEkohlQpz#CAwx pic.twitter.com/sLNYmiRsSm
— NWS Sacramento (@NWSSacramento) July 1, 2021
On the ground in the fire and heat — per the Associated Press this afternoon:
Hundreds of firefighters worked Thursday in high heat to beat back wildfires in the forests of far Northern California, where the flames have forced many communities to evacuate.
Mount Shasta, the volcano that towers over the region, was shrouded in a haze of smoke plumes so huge they could easily be seen in images from weather satellites in space.
The scene was ominously reminiscent of last year’s California wildfire season, which scorched more than 6,562 square miles (17,000 square kilometers), the most in recorded history.
An extraordinary Pacific Northwest heat wave that extended into the upper reaches of California was slowly receding, but it was only expected to cool off slightly before temperatures trend back up heading into the Fourth of July weekend, forecasters said.
“It is very hot and dry,” said Suzi Johnson, a Shasta-Trinity National Forest spokeswoman for the Salt Fire, which broke out Wednesday and quickly grew to more than 4 square miles (10 square kilometers), temporarily shutting down Interstate 5.
California and the rest of the U.S. West is mired in a historic drought tied to climate change, which also is contributing to worsening wildfire seasons and heat waves.
And warnings to the upcoming holiday idiots:
Fire authorities throughout California stepped up campaigns urging people not to use fireworks to celebrate the Fourth of July, citing both the explosive dangers and the threat of wildfires in the withering conditions.
“The fuels are bone dry,” Los Angeles County Fire Chief Daryl Osby said at a news conference.
“We are extremely concerned about the use of fireworks of all kinds.”
Fireworks are on sale all over here in California’s Central Valley, and we still still have memories from the crazy-ass fires last year when the air outside looked we were on fucking Mars!
And on a way-not-related subject, but still concerns easily-swayed idiots:
The reason these events are filled with and cater to right-wing conspiracy theorists is because that is where Clark fits in. Listen as he claims the COVID-19 vaccine is a plot by Bill Gates to trick people into taking the Mark of the Beast. https://t.co/hBxY0O6JSh pic.twitter.com/WsXGvRyQJM
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) June 30, 2021
Yet that’s just the real-nutjobs. In the lesser frothing-mouth Fox News, along with a host of others, there’s still idiot-spun shit. In a course of this COVID-19 pandemic a possible explanation — a new survey-study reveals Republicans distrust of science and public-health officials lead them to take fewer precautionary measures, such as mask-wearing, physical distancing and sanitizing . The research was published Tuesday at PLOS One.
From the Abstract: ‘Reflecting larger societal divisions, among Republicans and Independents, the absence of a positive relationship between social conservatism and COVID-19 precautions appears driven by lower trust in scientists, lower trust in liberal and moderate sources, lesser consumption of liberal news media, and greater economic conservatism.‘
Adding to the bullshit factor for these folks is the right-wing media, which lies constantly — via the Newsroom at UCLA, where the study was conducted, and part of the team, cognitive scientist Colin Holbrook from UC Merced:
The research raises disturbing implications. “The findings suggest that Republicans would have been substantially more careful had their media environment encouraged them to do so, plausibly saving many thousands of lives and preventing scores of long-term health problems related to COVID infection,” Holbrook said.
In the fires and out…
