Flame out: wet weather, cool summer kept 2010 fire season to historically mild levels
A near-perfect string of weather events from the Bay Area to Los Angeles -- late spring rains, cool summer temperatures and fall showers starting in mid-October -- is turning 2010 into the mildest fire season in 20 years, a rare respite after several recent years of explosive wildfire seasons.
So far this year, one-sixth as many acres have burned in California as did last year, and one-twentieth as many burned as in 2008.
"If firefighters had some sort of a wish list, this would be it," said Jan Null, a meteorologist who runs Golden Gate Weather Services in Saratoga. "It was the best possible scenario."
Not only has the tame fire season meant less misery, air pollution and impact on wildlife, but it also has saved taxpayers millions of dollars.
Just two years ago, wildfires driven by drought, heat waves and dry lightning storms burned 1.3 million acres in California, a modern record. Last year, 402,181 acres burned.
But this year, only 62,049 acres have burned statewide through Oct. 23, the fewest since 1991, when 33,870 acres burned all year.
<SNIP>View entire article here: http://www.mercurynews.com/science/ci_16480831?nclick_check=1
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