Enormous wildfires spark scramble to improve fire models

(Nature) Jeff Tollefson, Aug. 31

…“Something is definitely different, and it raises questions about how much we really know,” says Max Moritz, a fire scientist at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

… The problem, Moritz says, is that most of the fire models in use today are based on data from the past two or three decades. But it seems that fire behaviour might be shifting in response to climate faster than anybody expected, and that makes it increasingly problematic to extrapolate from past trends, he adds.

As part of Tahoe Fire Awareness Week, May 26 to June 3, Tahoe Basin fire agencies and partners, including Tahoe Regional Planning Agency and the University of California and Nevada Cooperative Extensions, are sponsoring a series of free webinars to help individuals and communities learn how to become more fire adaptive, reported the Record-Courier. Each webinar will be held from noon to 1 p.m. and will be recorded and archived for later viewing.

“With 2012 shaping up to be a high risk year for wildfires, the more people can prepare to survive the threat the better we all will be,” said

In contrast to typical winter weather patterns, in 2012 Nevada has experienced some early January days that were downright hot, wrote Dennis Myers in the Reno News and Review. Wildfires, normally a feature of summer and fall, have been experienced during this winter.

The article said Nevada's cloud seeding program is prepared for any break in the weather pattern that will provide storms that can be seeded. Truckee Meadows is dependent on the snowpack for its water supply and a lack of snow threatens the tourist economy. Nevada’s farming areas have a stake in the cloud seeding program and forest recovery after wildfire also relies on...