We've never had an April like this in AZ/NM. In NM, they've already hit their yearly average for acres burned with 2+ more months of critical fire weather left to go. Over the short-term, expect to see weather favorable to fire growth over the next 48 hours. West Texas and the rest of the Southern Plains are in for it too. Except for a few small pockets, the West from the 100th Meridian on is in drought. This will not be pretty come August and the early action in the SW will add to firefighter's cumulative fatigue. We'll have people tapping out before September.
The McBride wild fire in Ruidoso started less than 3 miles from my house. Luckily I was up wind and all I lost was some food from being without power for 36 hours. With the village being dark and watching the hills across the valley burn from my front porch Tuesday April 12 was an eerie site I hope to never see again. A good friend of mine from HS bought acreage north of Flagstaff AZ. The Tunnel Wildfire that burned Sunset Crater National Monument and is still burning got within 3/4ths of a mile from his house and wind and the efforts of fire fighters saved it. Fighting those fires is hard work (Thanks Rimrocker) and the entire south west side of the country is too damn dry.
Ah, what a wonderful year that was in the DFW area. Droughts, something like 70 days of 100+ heat, watering restrictions, and probably damage to half the foundations in the metroplex.
I spent a month in Longview chasing arson starts all over NE Texas. Thankfully, most arsonists are stupid and don't understand fire.
Our area of responsibility covered 27 counties and was from the LA and OK lines on the N and E, Shelby to Anderson counties on the S, and Anderson to Fannin on the W. We were hosted in Longview by the Texas Forest Service office and the Longview FD. I'm just a guy who plays with fire, but that seems like it would qualify as NE Texas.
This is a quote about tomorrow (Friday) from a Fire Behavior Analyst I know who is working on the Santa Fe area fires: “Epic fire behavior. It’s a day that as a firefighter we’ll write about, we’ll read studies about. It’s going to be a big fire day… a very, very dangerous fire day tomorrow.” This is a guy that is one of the best we have and never exaggerates. He thinks if things line up like they appear to be doing, the fire could blow out of the forest, take off across the grasslands, and run for about 40 miles jumping I-25 and wiping out some communities along the way. The conditions will not just be limited to that area. Everyone in Northern NM needs to be ready to leave at a moment's notice. By tomorrow afternoon, there will be more fires on the landscape than tonight.
Stop it with your "the Panhandle is called North Texas" silliness. Longview is 25 miles dead west of Shreveport and 50 miles southwest of Texarkana. It doesn't get much more Northeast Texas than that.
Somewhat related -- Lake Mead... The top of a water intake pipe at Lake Mead is now sticking up above the water’s surface as the lake level continues to drop. A photo posted by the Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA) shows the newest evidence of the megadrought gripping the West. “It’s official – the top of Intake No. 1 is now visible and the low lake level pumping station is now operational” https://www.8newsnow.com/news/local-news/water-intake-pipe-pokes-above-surface-at-lake-mead/amp/
https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/ That site show current activity. Right now they're OK as it look like the Santa Fe fires are all South of them.
Whatever. Your avatar description is fitting. Here's a photo from Texas in 2011. We put a dozer line down a utility corridor.
On the east side of the Sangre de Cristos, 40 mph winds right now with 50-60 mph winds predicted for this afternoon.
Here's the morning briefing from the Hermit's Peak/Calf Canyon fires. It's a FB Live link so I don't know how to display it in the body of the post. https://fb.watch/cHUk1jptUA/
