Massive fire in my area - started last night about 10 miles east in the hills of Santa Paula. Heavy Santa Ana Winds aka Santana Winds or Devil Winds blowing hard. Power went out all night, just came back on. Fire has blown into Ventura hills throughout the night. Looks like the apocalypse out there with heavy smoke, helicoptors buzzing around, etc. Taking it's toll on many houses and structures. My wife and I are safe for the time being, but several friends' closer to the hillside had to be evacuated. Winds expected the next couple of days.



News update from an hour ago:

THOMAS FIRE NOW 45,000 ACRES

The Thomas Fire that started Monday evening northeast of Santa Paula has now burned 45,000 acres and it has destroyed at least 150 structures.

The fire has displaced at least 27,000 and now more because of a new mandatory evacuation order for everyone between Ashwood and the west, Loma Vista on the south, Foothill on the north and Victoria on the east.

Evacuation centers have been set up at the Fairgrounds in Ventura and Nordhoff High School.

Fire officials initially said there was one fatality but that turned out to be a dog not a person.

The fire has spread from Santa Paula to Ventura and back again with a spread northward toward the Ojai Valley.

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Rip this joint, gonna save your soul, round and round and round we go......

Stay safe, Hairball.

Oh no Hairball sending good thoughts~

Thanks you two - we're totally safe. Fire still raging and winds are kicking back up - Governor Brown has declared a state of emergency.
Went to my studio by the coast earlier (near downtown and pier), and it was like driving through a campfire scene...smoke and ashes everywhere.

Here's a view of downtown, the Pacific ocean, and the Ventura pier taken from charred hillside (my studio is 1/4 mile from the pier) - photo from local news site:



In contrast to what it typically looks like before today (pic from google):



A couple other random shots of today and last night grabbed from local news sites:



And this pic from last night I refer to as "Highway to Hell"




Other fires breaking out in SoCal - the next closest one out by Magic Mountain in Valencia apprx. 45 miles away.
It's crazy out there...seemingly everywhere...hitting close to home...literally...

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Rip this joint, gonna save your soul, round and round and round we go......



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2017-12-06 04:41 by Hairball.

Horrible fires down that way.. stay safe.

On a related note, Jerry Hall and Rupert Murdoch's home/vineyard in Bel Air is currently burning down.
[thehill.com]

Stay safe Hairball ..... those photos look horrific ....



ROCKMAN

Stingaree Bay -- 5.20am -- 7 December 2017



ROCKMAN

Very nice to look at that peaceful pic Rockman after driving around my town here today - it looks like a foggy thick overcast day here, but it's thick smoke. People everywhere wearing surgical masks, dust masks, bandanas, etc. -it's difficult to breathe and looks like the aftermath of a disaster which it literally is. Took a bunch of pics of the smoked out scene of our town, and will post a few later. Just got back home, and my clothes are saturated in smokiness similar to coming home from a camping trip.

The fire itself is now moving up the coastal mountains towards Santa Barbara apprx. 25 miles north- several small towns in between have been evacuated.
Winds have mellowed which leaves the smoke lingering, but supposed to kick again later.

Fire status: 83,000 acres burned - O% contained.

In the meantime, here's a NASA aerial pic of the SoCal coastline (I'm in Ventura)- taken yesterday before the recent Skirball fire in L.A. which is threatening the Getty Museum and is burning down mansions in Bel-Air.



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Rip this joint, gonna save your soul, round and round and round we go......

Quote
MisterDDDD
Horrible fires down that way.. stay safe.

On a related note, Jerry Hall and Rupert Murdoch's home/vineyard in Bel Air is currently burning down.
[thehill.com]

I’m sorry to hear that, beautiful grounds w/ tended old vines.
Terrible.

Hairball, other So CA Dean G
I hope you all are okay
This fire has me worried
Heartbreaking for California (the Santa Rosa/ Napa fires up here recent too)
Stay safe—

Drumcondra .. 6.00am -- 8 December 2017



ROCKMAN

Snow along the Gulf Coast tonight. Winter started December 1st (actual winter, not that solstice crap) and here it comes (it's already been nasty damp humid cold out - 2 days ago I was in shorts and it was 80F!).

Some people are on the CLIMATE CHANGE! wagon. They seem to not understand that it occasionally snows along the Gulf Coast and very rarely as far south as Fort Lauderdale (1977).

And then there are the Polar Vortex people. Everytime it gets cold now they say POLAR VORTEX and talk about past ones as if they survived a hurricane. It used to be simply called 'arctic air' or 'arctic blast' or 'Alberta Clipper' but a few years ago someone said 'polar vortex' and now it's the rage - even though, as far back as anyone could find recorded temperatures, blasts of arctic air have always been because of the polar vortex breaking apart.

There was one this fall, when the NE part of the US cooled down. For some reason no one was shouting about it being a polar vortex.

It's amazing how with all the technology there is now there's all kinds of new ways for stupid to get stupider.

Quote
GasLightStreet
Snow along the Gulf Coast tonight. Winter started December 1st (actual winter, not that solstice crap) and here it comes (it's already been nasty damp humid cold out - 2 days ago I was in shorts and it was 80F!).

Some people are on the CLIMATE CHANGE! wagon. They seem to not understand that it occasionally snows along the Gulf Coast and very rarely as far south as Fort Lauderdale (1977).

And then there are the Polar Vortex people. Everytime it gets cold now they say POLAR VORTEX and talk about past ones as if they survived a hurricane. It used to be simply called 'arctic air' or 'arctic blast' or 'Alberta Clipper' but a few years ago someone said 'polar vortex' and now it's the rage - even though, as far back as anyone could find recorded temperatures, blasts of arctic air have always been because of the polar vortex breaking apart.

There was one this fall, when the NE part of the US cooled down. For some reason no one was shouting about it being a polar vortex.

It's amazing how with all the technology there is now there's all kinds of new ways for stupid to get stupider.

Snow just starting in my area of E TN though the road through the Smokey Mountains is already closed due to the snow there. Although we're not supposed to get anything significant, I wish I was home as this will be our new puppy's first snow and I would have liked to see his reaction to it.

Happy Friday everyone!

Peace,
Mr DJA

3-5 inches of snow forecast for my area of New England tomorrow. Mostly light, steady snow.

It's snowing. Nothing bad but it's 33F out, which is awful!

Los Angeles Against the Mountains—I

John McPhee 1988


[www.google.com]

Quote
35love
Los Angeles Against the Mountains—I

John McPhee 1988


[www.google.com]

His book THE CONTROL OF NATURE is excellent.

"wake up and smell the smoke"

Blues skies to the left of me, smoke clouds to the right...here I am stuck in the middle....


New heat wave coming in...up to '80 F near the coast of SoCal...wtf....winds are thankfully dying down a bit but still unpredictable...could seriously use some cool rain...but NO rain in the 10 day forecast...

From the Washington Post:

Southern California ‘like a war zone’ amid raging wildfires

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Rip this joint, gonna save your soul, round and round and round we go......

Quote
GasLightStreet

Quote
35love
Los Angeles Against the Mountains—I

John McPhee 1988


[www.google.com]

His book THE CONTROL OF NATURE is excellent.

Another good book lined up for me, excellent.
I have been an ‘outsider’ (ha) all my life, from my Father taking us hiking/ nature and I continued
John McPhee’s poetic descriptions of the CA terrain
and I already knew about the role of fire
Nonetheless it is jarring to say the least to see what is happening.

Hairball stay safe dude -

Fires to the north of me, fires to the west of me, fires to the east of me, and fires to the south of me.....

....here I am, stuck in the middle with......

....I guess I'm lucky living in the flat-lands of the San Fernando Valley.

Cripes, B Dude, you guys are having a helluva time of it. Thinking of you...stay safe.

Quote
BluzDude
Fires to the north of me, fires to the west of me, fires to the east of me, and fires to the south of me.....

....here I am, stuck in the middle with......

....I guess I'm lucky living in the flat-lands of the San Fernando Valley.

I heard Cal State Northridge (one of my alma maters) in the valley was closed the other day to due smoke.
The valley is notorious for having smoggy air to begin with - add some billows of smoke and it must be stifling.
You might want to wear a gas mask!

Seems the Skirball fire next to the Getty Center south rim of valley seems to be waning.
As for the Thomas Fire up here, Ventura seems to be out of the woods (knock on wood), yet surrounding areas not so much.
Still smokey as hell here though, and Red Flag high wind warnings through Sunday for all of SoCal, so anything can happen at any time.

Current status of Thomas Fire:

Acres Burned - 132,000 acres - 10% contained
Structures Threatened: 15,000 structures threatened
Structures Destroyed: 401 Structures: Damaged 81

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On another note, imagine all the wildlife that's being smothered...there was news footage of some guy pulling over on the highway trying to rescue a bewildered rabbit - the poor thing ran straight into raging flames but immediately turned around and the guy was able to pick it up and take it somewhere safe

And from the L.A. Times:

Wildfire threatens sensitive California condor population

The raging Thomas fire is approaching a California condor nest in Los Padres National Forest’s Sespe Condor Sanctuary, where a fledgling is close to taking its first flight.

Louis Sahagun reporting from Ojai:

Federal biologists were concerned Friday that a wildfire that has already consumed 132,000 acres was marching toward a California condor nest where a turkey-sized fledgling was close to taking its first flight.

“There are limited opportunities to protect that nest, which is in a cave on a hillside,” said Kirk Gilligan, deputy project leader of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Hopper Mountain California Condor Recovery Program. “But, if necessary, aerial water drops could cool things down.

“This fledgling is expected to take its first flight out of the nest any day now,” he added. “Trouble is, condors don’t generally get very far on their first flight.”

The nest is in the Los Padres National Forest’s Sespe Condor Sanctuary, along Sespe Creek and about six miles west of the community of Fillmore.

As of Friday morning, the nest was about two miles west of the advancing Thomas fire.

Besides federally endangered California condors, the Sespe is home to mountain lions, deer, coyotes, black bears and a herd of about 30 bighorn sheep.

Arroyo toads, red-legged frogs and steelhead trout, all endangered species, also make their homes in the area. Adult condors are protective but might abandon a chick if smoke and ash from the fire becomes too intense, scientists said.

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edit: Watching live news conference on Thomas Fire - 143,000 acres burned and still only 10% contained.

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Rip this joint, gonna save your soul, round and round and round we go......



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2017-12-09 04:08 by Hairball.

Troubled clouds .... Stingaree Bay -- 5.30am -- 10 December 2017



ROCKMAN

kinda looks like a big ole spaceship

YEAH!!! ... it does kinda ..... Clouds ... Clouds mmmmmmmm



ROCKMAN

dang tricky ariens, using innocent clouds to sneek up on ya Rockeee

here in Brooklyn,CT,it has been snowing all day ,look's like about 4" right,now have the tune's up loud and drinking gin-and -tonic.

And so it begins. First snow. So long, shoes, see you in April.

Courtesy: BlogTO. Because I‘m not going out there.

.... Heck!!! whale goobers or is it waste from the Liposuction factory ????.... ^^^^



ROCKMAN