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French firefighters face 'pyrocumulonimbus' for first time

france24.com

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Re: French firefighters face 'pyrocumulonimbus' for first time

#151

Post by cineticdaffodil »

ludston wrote: post #108
derrida wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What is there to discuss? The governance crisis: how can we follow science on so many things, how can countries completely change on short order, but not for this...

Governments have been working on this for more then 20 years now. 40 maybe. As long as I've been alive at least. It's just that all of the actions to try and deal with this have been continuously undermined by fossil fuel industries and right-wing politics.

No, its that all the action consistently denies the fact that human societies can not keep i together if degrown. The policies produce regression aka facism.

Re: French firefighters face 'pyrocumulonimbus' for first time

#152

Post by sjbzbeiks »

falloon wrote: post #112

Pedantic cloud enjoyer here, the article should name this a pyrocumulus not pyrocumulonimbus - the nimbus part means 'rain-bearing' in meteorology, fire clouds don't rain.

During the press conference describing this the speaker claims they’re working with meteorologists from France Météo supporting the term at 6:30 https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xas3lw2

Technical details in the video link start around 3:34 for those interested

Excuse the French for the non Francophones but trying to be detailed and exacting here on why this isn’t bad journalism to use that term

Re: French firefighters face 'pyrocumulonimbus' for first time

#153

Post by superfrank »

reco98gg wrote: post #140
Dibby053 wrote: post #57

For context on why this region is burning so easily: the Landes and Médoc are huge, artificial pine forests created in the 19th century under Napoleon III to drain and reclaim what was considered an inhospitable wetland, where shepherds famously walked around on stilts. Pine resin and needle litter makes it exceptionally flammable, and being an uninterrupted monoculture on flat land it lacks natural barriers to stop…

The main reason the forest is burning is global warming. There were 3 punishing heatwaves before the fire, it was just a matter of time. A part of the Fontainebleau forest, much more north, no pine trees, went in smoke earlier. Forests are burning near Madrid. It may make some people feel better to think that it is an isolated, local problem, but unfortunately global warming is the main culprit and we at least need t…

I don't think the person you're responding to was trying to deny global warming being a factor. I think they're just explaining why this fire is so bad compared to other fires we have seen in France before.

I know global warming plays a major role in this, but I still found it interesting to know why this fire seems so bad.

Re: French firefighters face 'pyrocumulonimbus' for first time

#154

Post by kuerbel »

derekdahmer wrote: post #103
donohoe wrote: post #71

67 comments. One mention of “climate crisis” (appropriate), 3 of “climate credits”. No one here is really discussing “climate change”. Is it denial, or just that we’ve accepted the obvious?

Climate change is real and contributes to this but there have been massive fires in this region for over a century - primarily from the artificially planted Maritime Pine forests. The 1940s were particularly bad. Look up the Great Fire of 1949.

The Landes region has a long history of devastating wildfires, and the 1949 fire is a tragic example, that's correct.

But that's not really the point being debated. Nobody is claiming climate change invented wildfires. But it is making the conditions for extreme fires more common. The IPCC concludes with high confidence that fire hazard conditions, including heatwaves and fire weather, have increased across Europe since 1980, particularly in southern and western Europe, even though ignition sources and land management still matter.

Climate change is increasing the odds that fires become larger and harder to control.

Western Europe has also experienced increasingly frequent and severe droughts in recent years. Those prolonged dry conditions leave forests and vegetation far more combustible, making fires spread faster and burn more intensely once they start.

Re: French firefighters face 'pyrocumulonimbus' for first time

#157

Post by derriz »

lazystar wrote: post #73
donohoe wrote: post #71

67 comments. One mention of “climate crisis” (appropriate), 3 of “climate credits”. No one here is really discussing “climate change”. Is it denial, or just that we’ve accepted the obvious?

acceptance; the problems identified. efforts now should focus on innovative solutions that dont rely on nation state investment.

Why? The vast majority of fossil fuel production globally is through state-owned companies.

Re: French firefighters face 'pyrocumulonimbus' for first time

#158

Post by [deleted] »

tjwebbnorfolk wrote: post #60
j1elo wrote: post #56

Spain is also completely on fire - there's a website that collects all official information and locates every fire on a map: https://xn--incendiosespaa-2nb.es/ (in Spanish) It is disheartening to see how everything is basically in red.

spain loses ~240,000 acres to wildfire every year. this is larger than normal, but fire is normal there

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