California WIldfire Nightmare Stuck On Repeat; Santa Rosa Again?

 In 2017, the so-called Tubbs Fire roared into the city of Santa Rosa, California, killing 22 people and destroying some 7,500 people.   It was one of the most apocalyptic wildfires in California history. 

I bring this up because, to an extent, history is replaying itself in the Napa Valley and Santa Rosa just three years after the Tubbs fire. 

A raging wildfire overnight near St. Helena
California. Photo via Twitter by Caroline Garcia.

Homes are burning, wineries are destroyed and thousands of people are fleeing from wildfires that blew up yesterday and last night in the same areas wrecked by the Tubbs fire. 

California just can't catch a break. 

So far at least, the current devastating wildfires are likely not quite as destructive as the Tubbs fire. 

That's not much comfort, though, for people who have lost their homes and businesses in the past couple of days. Not to mention the thousands of homes destroyed in the West during this extreme fire season of 2020.  Nothing is going right in 2020. 

I can only imagine the horror and PTSD spikes going on with people who lived through the fires of 2017, only to experience the exact same thing again now. 

Since this is a breaking story and people can't really get into the danger zone to assess the damage, we don't know how bad this latest outbreak of fires is. There are plenty of videos and photos on social media of homes and businesses burning.

There are also videos of harrowing drives through flames as people frantically evacuate. Unfortunately, we've gotten used to those videos this year. 

These repeated fires will certainly affect California's economy, population and society for years to come.  I can imagine people - including those who have never had their homes damaged by wildfires - will give up on California and move away. 

The Chateau Boswell winery near St. Helena,
California in flames Sunday.

Who wants to live in a place where you're constantly evacuating or under threat of evacuations?  A place that's hazardously polluted from wildfire smoke for weeks or even months on end every summer and autumn?

In the short term, anyway, the fires will continue to rage today under hot, dry, windy conditions. The weather will turn a little better in northern California later in the week. The winds will be lighter, which is a good thing. 

The fires will continue to burn, though and could explode once again if any other bouts of strong east winds develop, which could easily happen at any time during the next two weeks at least. 

There is no rain in the forecast anywhere in the western third of the United States for at least the next week, except for light showers in northwestern Washington.

Wildfire smoke will continue to drift its way across the United States for the foreseeable future, giving large areas of the nation hazy skies. 

I notice some wildfire smoke overhead in Vermont this morning, making this the eight consecutive day we've noticed the smoke in the atmosphere over the Green Mountain State. 

The fire danger here was fairly high yesterday, but clouds and moist air kept the danger limited in parts of Vermont. We're still looking at a good chance of a decent rainfall later Tuesday into Wedneday morning.