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Red sky in the morning...

 
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(inc)



Joined: 18 Feb 2002
Posts: 356
Location: San Diego

PostPosted: Mon Oct 27, 2003 7:38 am    Post subject: Red sky in the morning... Reply with quote

Fire, fire go away, come again....never.

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xo
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Joined: 09 Feb 2002
Posts: 466
Location: Los Angeles [comcast]

PostPosted: Mon Oct 27, 2003 9:16 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Down there too?

I've never seen the sky behave the way it has over the past few days; the closest was when the sky turned green as a tornado approached when I lived in the the midwest.

The city has a funny smell. It's been surreal.

-xo
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(inc)



Joined: 18 Feb 2002
Posts: 356
Location: San Diego

PostPosted: Mon Oct 27, 2003 10:29 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Firestorm started yesterday -- 3 major blazes continue in the County: the Paradise Fire, the Ceder Fire and Otay Mt. Fire. The second is the largest and burned from just west of Julian in the mountains to just west of 805, well within the city itself. That one fire alone is now around 120,000 acres, 12 confirmed deaths, ~450 houses destroyed (most in the community of Scripps Ranch near where the FAA control for all of Southern California is located at the east end of the MCAS Miramar buffer zone). There is apparently, depending on winds, a chance all 3 fires might join, making a single fire that would extend from the Border fifty miles to the north.

I live more to the west side of the City, but back on a *wild* canyon (Tecolote, for any locals who might be reading this), so we're keeping a close watch on what's going on just a bit to the east.

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xo
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Joined: 09 Feb 2002
Posts: 466
Location: Los Angeles [comcast]

PostPosted: Mon Oct 27, 2003 6:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

This is insane! The smoke haze is ridiculous, and I'm miles (and mountain ranges) away. The Times reported 11 deaths and 700 structures this morning; we have one to the north of me (Simi Valley) and one to the east (San Bernadino). My co-worker who lives east was evacuated over the weekend. I hope no one you know has been directly impacted.

I'm reminded of the movie "Perfect Storm". What a time for the Santa Anas to kick in.

The sunset is absolutely SINISTER.

-xo
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LeonMcNichol



Joined: 12 Sep 2002
Posts: 38

PostPosted: Mon Oct 27, 2003 7:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

We've been blessed and is not in the wind's path of the closest one (simi valley), but we sure can see it. I'm not too far from it either. I'm currently staying at my mom's home in Reseda (San Fernando Valley). Sorry to hear you are down wind of it. Confused Thos santa ana winds are killer and aren't helping at all.
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LaughnCynic



Joined: 16 Jul 2002
Posts: 105

PostPosted: Tue Oct 28, 2003 12:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Damn, I'm glad I don't live out there. Earthquake threat AND raging wildfires. I'm quite content with nice relatively predictable hurricanes (Florida). A much more polite natural disaster seeing as they usually give you quite a lot of warning. Wink

Last blurb I heard had 2 of those fires as probable arson. No loser can go out and start a hurricane thankfully.

Wrap yourselves in wet towels, tin foil, then slap on a respirator and take care guys. Wink

inc wrote:
Fire, fire go away, come again....never.

Well at least with a fire you won't get a repeat performance immediatly since the 'fuel' has to grow back. Wink
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(inc)



Joined: 18 Feb 2002
Posts: 356
Location: San Diego

PostPosted: Tue Oct 28, 2003 10:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hehe.... Outside of some aftershocks, you don't particularly get an immediate repeat performance of a major quake on a given fault either as they're the product of cumulative stresses. But there is no reason that the same spot couldn't get hit by multiple hurricanes in one season -- the path of one is not particularly related to the path of another.

The danger from earthquakes can certainly be mitigated by strong building codes -- this is particularly seen in Japan, but California isn’t too far behind. But don't think you're immune to the effects of quakes in Florida. Take a look at a map of current US seismicity (hehe... I was a geologist before I became a programmer):
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/recenteqs/
All looks pretty much as you'd expect...but note those couple of dots by southeastern Missouri. That’s the location of the New Madrid Fault Zone, site of a massive series of quakes in the early 1800's:
http://www.hsv.com/genlintr/newmadrd/

Unlike California, where networks of faults tend to dampen transmition of seismic waves through the crust, quakes in the brittle crust of the mid-continent reverberate, much like hitting a gong, with damage radiating much further distances then in the West. The other *gothcha* is that building codes in the East can, in some locations, be rather dismissive of seismic safety.

A bit closer to home for you, so to speak, would be the 1886 quake that destroyed Charleston.

As for Florida itself, well you're about as aseismic as can be, but I guess you knew that:
http://clasnews.clas.ufl.edu/news/clasnotes/9801/quake.html

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LaughnCynic



Joined: 16 Jul 2002
Posts: 105

PostPosted: Thu Oct 30, 2003 6:21 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

inc wrote:
But there is no reason that the same spot couldn't get hit by multiple hurricanes in one season -- the path of one is not particularly related to the path of another.

Indeed. But thanks to the wonders of modern gadgetry hurricanes give more (and more accurate) notice of thier impending arrival. Plenty of time to scuttle away if you are in a surge zone or don't live in a properly built house. Wink Unlike the old days.

My mother likes to tell the story of the kind of warning you'd get when she was little: The schools sent the kids home early the day of the big 35 storm that hit Miami. As she and her sisters sat down to eat some soup her grandmother had made for them when they got home early, part of the roof blew off. Wheeeeee! Wink

Speaking of building codes... I find that most of Florida is still woefully inadequet even after Andrew showed many of the clueless what a strong storm could do (if it had been a slow moving storm or struck just a little further north it would have done MUCH more damage). As it was everyone north of SW 88th St. got negligable damage because it was such a fast, compact storm.

inc wrote:
As for Florida itself, well you're about as aseismic as can be, but I guess you knew that:

Hehe, yeah I guess I did. Though aren't there much more stable regions? Like central through north eastern Canada, central Siberia, central Saharan Africa, etc? Old solid sections of plates away from major fault/collision/subduction zones? Ok just went and looked at the USGS links you posted. Cool stuff and I guess my memory was roughly accurate. I'm not sweating about earthquakes here. Smile

However we do have plenty of sinkholes which tend to open up without warning since Florida is basically a swiss cheese of limestone. Heck I think I saw a blurb on the local news the other day that put the county I live in at or near the top in new sinkhole formation (over 250 I think). Prolonged drought followed by heavy rain just doesn't help. They tend to swallow homes and cars in slow motion though so I'm not sweating them either. Wink

If there ever is a big shake here things could get interesting I'm sure.

Then there are those, thankfully very rare, mega-tsunamis caused by massive slides. The massive long frequency wave from one of those could roll right across our flat state. *scratching head thoughtfully* Perhaps I should learn to surf just in case? Twisted Evil

P.S. Speaking of seismic events... A friend of mine involved with nuke test-ban treaty verification pointed me at this long ago.
http://www.pidc.org/web-bin/bullcal.pl
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(inc)



Joined: 18 Feb 2002
Posts: 356
Location: San Diego

PostPosted: Thu Oct 30, 2003 3:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
Then there are those, thankfully very rare, mega-tsunamis caused by massive slides.
Hehe... One of the more interesting hypothetical natural disasters. I remember reading about the Hawaii slipage a few years ago and thinking how glad I was that my house is at least 200 feet above sea-level. And I guess the Canary Islands have Florida in their sights?

Anyway, I love mountains and hate humidity...I don't think I'll be moving to Florida any time soon, lol.

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LaughnCynic



Joined: 16 Jul 2002
Posts: 105

PostPosted: Thu Oct 30, 2003 5:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

inc wrote:
And I guess the Canary Islands have Florida in their sights?

Yeah I remember reading or seeing something about a section of one of the Canary's that's a big slide candidate. Probably not as big a chunk as the hunk of the big island of Hawaii that's starting to go. 200' might not be high enough from what I've read. Wink

inc wrote:
Anyway, I love mountains and hate humidity...I don't think I'll be moving to Florida any time soon, lol.

Hehe... Can't say as I blame you there. The only sane time of year in FL is winter. It's also flat enough (in the southern part) that they should name speed bumps like mountain peaks. Hmmm... Actually there is a mountain down in Miami. Mt. Trashmore the county dump that got so tall they had to knock the top off because it was becoming a hazzard to air traffic. Twisted Evil


Last edited by LaughnCynic on Fri Oct 31, 2003 12:11 pm; edited 1 time in total
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deoch



Joined: 09 Mar 2002
Posts: 65

PostPosted: Thu Oct 30, 2003 7:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Red sky, smoke in the air, ashes falling down.. It's been an unfortunate week. Thankfully it looks to be clearing up in my area now.. and the fire didn't get close enough here to be a serious danger. Glad everyone's okay.
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