OT: 2024 Weather Thread

[Sra1974]

Thanks the Alberta data is shit as is the gradient used. Its not a proper scale as 10 gets passed routinely. They've gone spinal tap in just often saying +10 now when that doesn't capture the scale of smoke concentrations more commonly seen now. Its crazy they use a scale of 10 to measure smoke particle concentrations that can get in the hundreds.

This Alberta smoke map is basically garbage.

AQHI - Map

airquality.alberta.ca

Thanks again. I hadn't known of these much better sources.

Yeah it’s a scientific measurement so they aren’t just saying it. But there are 4 measurement stations in Edmonton, thye use the worst one as the proxy. So Sunday was weird because Woodcroft was reading 10, but Lendrum was a 5. Leduc was a 4, so basically south of he river appeared pretty good. The government of Canada weather site does let you see air quality by station, but you have to click on it. The Alberta aqhi website is also helpful to see values in the region.

If this is our future, and I believe it is, we need way more monitoring stations spread around and great access to that data, as it can be pretty spotty.

 

[Barrsy]

Yeah it’s a scientific measurement so they aren’t just saying it. But there are 4 measurement stations in Edmonton, thye use the worst one as the proxy. So Sunday was weird because Woodcroft was reading 10, but Lendrum was a 5. Leduc was a 4, so basically south of he river appeared pretty good. The government of Canada weather site does let you see air quality by station, but you have to click on it. The Alberta aqhi website is also helpful to see values in the region.

If this is our future, and I believe it is, we need way more monitoring stations spread around and great access to that data, as it can be pretty spotty.

Thanks for the informed response. That’s always helpful.

 

[Tobias Kahun]

Air quality is 449 here right now... basically can chew the smoke outside.

f*** this.. my exit plan is to head somewhere else where it's A) cheaper to live... B) less shit weather (where it's not shit in winter AND shit in summer)... and C) with a lot less societal/political shit to wade through (and that's only going to get worse).

Good luck

 

[Heavy Dee]

So Jasper is on fire which is sad as hell.

Bad look for Danielle Smith who cut fire prevention by 25% since she took office.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

So Jasper is on fire which is sad as hell.

Bad look for Danielle Smith who cut fire prevention by 25% since she took office.

Those rainbows and windmills won't chase themselves.

 

[Sanchez]

So Jasper is on fire which is sad as hell.

Bad look for Danielle Smith who cut fire prevention by 25% since she took office.

Imagine what a $100 million would do for fire prevention? Just take it out of the $300 million you gave to Calgary's arena deal.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

So Jasper is on fire which is sad as hell.

Bad look for Danielle Smith who cut fire prevention by 25% since she took office.

Jasper since the pine beetle infestation (that came from BC) has been a question of when and not if it burns down. Being Federal land and not provincial the Federal government refused to cut the massive amount dead wood from the infestation that now surrounds Jasper which is essentially dried out kindling ready to blow. This has nothing to do with the provincial government.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Just gonna unpack some of the Jasper evacuation news. To close off Highway 16 going east possibly put people at greater risk than if it remained open. With current resources and equipment iits precedent to keep main highway open by fighting fires on the escape route. Forcing people through one exit, to go into BC resulted in much slower evacuation of area with lineups of car traffic for hours reported.

I wonder as well how much used the route to the Jasper bypass was used. of if visitors in town knew of the ways to get to it instead of the main road back to highway.

Another concern is this being an emergency evac people were subject to how much gas they had in the tank at the time. With the limited gas stations in area would've been impossible to fill the tank before getting out of dodge. Those going South would have to hit Gas at Sask crossing or go to Lake Louise. You'd wonder if Sask crossing gas volume at station was depleted. Wonder how many people simply ran out of gas in this less than ideal evacuation plan.

Hinton is the biggest town and greatest gas availability in region and yet people were not allowed to evacuate directly to it. In extreme heat conditions people were forced out just so that they could be gridlocked in cars running out of gas taking 3hrs just to inch 7km's away and in risk of further fires spread. Sounds like a complete gong show.

Closures of Icefields parkway and Highway 16 east resulted in ONE exit through a long 2 lane highway 16 West to BC. With tourists, campers, town residents all evacuating one way, how could officials figure this one way evac was going to be effective?


Would wonder as well if the stipulations allowed those camped east of Jasper Town sight. For instance at Snaring or Pocahontas to travel direct east to get out. I certainly hope those people weren't herded west.

ps confirmed that idiotically officials were preventing people from exiting east who were East of the fire on highway 16. They were made to drive through the fire to the standstill West evac. Idiots in charge.

 

[Stoneman89]

Air quality is 449 here right now... basically can chew the smoke outside.

f*** this.. my exit plan is to head somewhere else where it's A) cheaper to live... B) less shit weather (where it's not shit in winter AND shit in summer)... and C) with a lot less societal/political shit to wade through (and that's only going to get worse).

Good luck. I hear parts of the moon are available.

So Jasper is on fire which is sad as hell.

Bad look for Danielle Smith who cut fire prevention by 25% since she took office.

I guess you could say it's a bad look for nearly every premier out there, since all the provinces have been incinerators at different points in the last 10 years.
Not to mention, Greece, California, Italy, etc, etc.... And Jasper Park is under federal jurisdiction. Just poor forestry management.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Jasper since the pine beetle infestation (that came from BC) has been a question of when and not if it burns down. Being Federal land and not provincial the Federal government refused to cut the massive amount dead wood from the infestation that now surrounds Jasper which is essentially dried out kindling ready to blow. This has nothing to do with the provincial government.

This. Most of my life visiting this region the wide red swaths of dead forests from the Pine beetle infestation was notable as a tragedy and as impending doom as that was just firewood/tinder looking for a match.
The National Parks, federally operated have not mitigated well and in Banff, Jasper, Kootenay, Yoho the same tragedies and immense fires have been occurring for decades. Increasingly this is a risky environment to visit and thats a tragedy as well.

 

[Heavy Dee]

Jasper since the pine beetle infestation (that came from BC) has been a question of when and not if it burns down. Being Federal land and not provincial the Federal government refused to cut the massive amount dead wood from the infestation that now surrounds Jasper which is essentially dried out kindling ready to blow. This has nothing to do with the provincial government.

It's still a bad look for her. It's in her province and the cuts are real. The fire isn't contained to the park.

You're right about the beetle.

 

[Duke74]

Good luck. I hear parts of the moon are available.

At one point, Musk had planned to send rocketships to Mars by 2025. It's say it's a possibility, but likely just another example of smoke blowing out of his ass.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

It's still a bad look for her. It's in her province and the cuts are real. The fire isn't contained to the park.

You're right about the beetle.

I just don’t think it’s right to politicize the fires is all. There are many circumstances as the cause and effect of them as well as the difficulties in fighting them in mountainous terrain but first and foremost are the swathes of dried out dead trees just waiting to burn.

I’d like to see the Federal Govt start a mobile national firefighting force that can be located to the literal hot spots in times of need to supplement provincial firefighting forces.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Wanted to post this pretty good site that has fire maps of where the fires actually are and headed and you can zoom in or out and see. This way if anybody has people out there in Jasper in front or backcountry they can see how impacted they are in region of Jasper, which is of course a very large park under the same evacuation order.

NASA-FIRMS

Fire Information for Resource Management System

firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov

Increasingly seems odd that people are being forced through worse fires to escape via the only Highway 16 west evac. So that if you were at the icefields north of Sask Crossing or anywhere from there to say Athabasca Falls you are being required to drive through the worst fire region around Mount Kerkeslin through to Wabasso lake to "evacuate the fires" This is directing people right through the very worst fire in the region and the one that is causing the evacuation in the first place.

The icefields area would be the safest place to be and everybody being evacuated from those regions into the firestorm.

 

[nexttothemoon]

Good luck. I hear parts of the moon are available.

Ya could be that some parts of the Earth are actually better than here (NA) as well.

Every region has it's problems but NA has reached the point of no return for many when you add all variables up and some are exiting... and no doubt some others will say don't let the door hit you on the ungrateful, privileged ass on the way out etc... but I guess I and many others are looking for a "different" brand of shit than the shit that's currently transpiring in NA now.

For better or worse (hopefully better)... change is sometimes needed to rebalance/refocus. To each their own of course and for some it's perfectly livable and enjoyable here... and for others... not so much anymore. Everyone has their own "path" that they choose to take and different limits that they can tolerate as well.

 

[Stoneman89]

Ya could be that some parts of the Earth are actually better than here (NA) as well.

Every region has it's problems but NA has reached the point of no return for many when you add all variables up and some are exiting... and no doubt some others will say don't let the door hit you on the ungrateful, privileged ass on the way out etc... but I guess I and many others are looking for a "different" brand of shit than the shit that's currently transpiring in NA now.

For better or worse (hopefully better)... change is sometimes needed to rebalance/refocus. To each their own of course and for some it's perfectly livable and enjoyable here... and for others... not so much anymore. Everyone has their own "path" that they choose to take and different limits that they can tolerate as well.

Well, you know that old saying about the grass being greener on the other side......sometimes you need to experience it to appreciate what you have , good or bad. But hope you find your something better, wherever it may be.

 

[nexttothemoon]

Well, you know that old saying about the grass being greener on the other side......sometimes you need to experience it to appreciate what you have , good or bad. But hope you find your something better, wherever it may be.

Thanks for that... everyone has their own situations they go through... health, finances, relationships among many other variables so I can see why some would be very content/happy in NA... while others need/want a change to find something "better" in their lives.

Sometimes something as small as enduring long cold winters for many decades or putting up with short, smoke filled summers for several years can be the tipping point and when added to a bunch of other factors... a change is needed for some people.

Sometimes the grass IS greener elsewhere... but you can never find out if you don't get off your own lawn and try to find out what other countries/cultures/environments have to offer as well.

 

[Barrsy]

I just don’t think it’s right to politicize the fires is all.

I’d like to see the Federal Govt start a mobile national firefighting force that can be located to the literal hot spots in times of need to supplement provincial firefighting forces.

This is funny

 

[timekeep]

Thanks the Alberta data is shit as is the gradient used. Its not a proper scale as 10 gets passed routinely. They've gone spinal tap in just often saying +10 now when that doesn't capture the scale of smoke concentrations more commonly seen now. Its crazy they use a scale of 10 to measure smoke particle concentrations that can get in the hundreds.

This Alberta smoke map is basically garbage.

AQHI - Map

airquality.alberta.ca

Thanks again. I hadn't known of these much better sources.

Here is another great site, shows where the fires are too.

Smoke Forecast - FireSmoke.ca

 

[Drivesaitl]

Here is another great site, shows where the fires are too.

Smoke Forecast - FireSmoke.ca

Thanks. Right now due to all the fires its a pretty noisy graphic display. Wish it could zero in on specific fires better, like the FIRMS tracking. Is there a way to slow down the speed? I feel it tracks to fast and end up pausing just to try to get a look.

 

[timekeep]

Thanks. Right now due to all the fires its a pretty noisy graphic display. Wish it could zero in on specific fires better, like the FIRMS tracking. Is there a way to slow down the speed? I feel it tracks to fast and end up pausing just to try to get a look.

I copied the forecast link, the website is Home - FireSmoke.ca. I don't know if you slow it down but you can zoom in.

 

[Drivesaitl]

I copied the forecast link, the website is Home - FireSmoke.ca. I don't know if you slow it down but you can zoom in.

Yeah, i did zoom in. Seems better at depicting smoke as stated than the actual fire on the ground activity and movement.

 

[brentashton]

I just don’t think it’s right to politicize the fires is all. There are many circumstances as the cause and effect of them as well as the difficulties in fighting them in mountainous terrain but first and foremost are the swathes of dried out dead trees just waiting to burn.

I’d like to see the Federal Govt start a mobile national firefighting force that can be located to the literal hot spots in times of need to supplement provincial firefighting forces.

In the winter time we could send them to Toronto to shovel them out of small flurries of snow.

 

[Stoneman89]

In the winter time we could send them to Toronto to shovel them out of small flurries of snow.

I thought that's what our armed forces are for?

 

[Sra1974]

The fire has reached the town of Jasper now, they are reporting multiple structure fires, who knows how bad it will be but this is a sad day.