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Smoke from the wildfires in California and Oregon swept across parts of the US Monday and observers in Washington, DC, Chicago and New York City saw hazy skies as a result of the fire. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump told leaders in California on Monday that climate change may not have been a factor in the state fires.
The fires on the west coast have already consumed more than 5 million acres and killed at least 35 people. Firefighting resources in the affected states have been reduced due to the fires, which consist of more than 40 separate fires.
On Monday, the National Weather Service in Sterling, Virginia, confirmed that skies were cloudy over the nation’s capital as “smoke from wildfires in the west was trapped in the jet stream and was moving above head to about 20,000 to 25,000 feet. “
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The skies over parts of Illinois and Indiana are also expected to have a visible layer of smoke for “several days” due to the wildfires.
As of late Sunday, smoke from the western US fires had drifted over northern IL and northwest IN and this will continue to this day. It is expected to remain airborne, so no impacts are forecast, but the sky will appear milky white or even gray. #ILwx #INwx pic.twitter.com/SVtxnE0NCB
– NWS Chicago (@NWSChicago) September 14, 2020
On Monday, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) said some areas in the northeast area of the state had been placed under a Red Flag warning. “Elevated fire weather conditions are expected in parts of central and southern California due to very hot and dry conditions,” the Cal Fire state summary read Monday, “and smoke conditions will persist in much of the valley areas. statewide. “
In a statement sent to Newsweek On Monday, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration was monitoring the smoke with an experimental tool called the High-Resolution Rapid Smoke-Refreshment model.
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“Smoke affects the weather in non-linear ways,” said Michael Staudenmaier of the Western Regional Office of the National Weather Service in Utah. “In the old days, a forecaster would have looked at a nearby fire and made a prediction that the smoke would make it, say, 2 degrees cooler during the day and keep it 2 degrees warmer at night. Now, the model corrects those variables in the prediction: how much sunlight the smoke will block, how much heat the smoke will trap, so there’s no more guesswork. “
Josh Edelson / AFP / Getty
The reasons for the California fires have been a topic of debate. California Governor Gavin Newsom has said that climate change was a major factor in creating the fires. President Donald Trump said Monday that may not be the case.
“When the trees fall, after a short period of time, about 18 months, they become very dry,” President Trump told reporters. “They turn, actually, like a match. And they get up, you know, there’s no more water flowing and they become very, very … well, they just explode. They can explode.”
Trump also said that the leaves left in the wildfire can become “fuel for the fire.”
During a briefing on the fires, Governor Newsom said that climate change had created a climate conducive to the fires. “Obviously, we feel very strongly that the hot spots are getting hotter, the dry ones are getting drier,” Newsom said.
“And we come from a perspective, humbly, where we present the science and the observed evidence is clear that climate change is real, and that is exacerbating this,” Newsom added.
California Secretary of Natural Resources Wade Crowfoot told the president on Monday that ignoring the science behind climate change was tantamount to putting “your head in the sand.”
“Okay,” Trump said. “It’ll start to get cooler. Just watch.”
“I wish science would agree with you,” Crowfoot replied.
“Well,” said Trump, “I don’t think science knows, really.”
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