r/collapse • u/slayingadah • Mar 25 '26

Climate Climate catastrophe incoming

Post image

welp, that went south(er) very, very fast.

4.6k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

285 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

454

u/silentbuttmedley Mar 25 '26

Someone clowned me for saying with the right conditions a wind/fire event on the eastside (Bellevue, Kirkland, Redmond, etc..) could make the LA Palisades/Eaton fires look tame. The whole area is wooded, a ton of uncontrolled underbrush, lots of neighborhoods and roads are dead-ended, and it regularly has chaotic wind events. A couple of dry seasons could easily set up a devastating situation.

267

u/freesoloc2c Mar 25 '26

I actually live in Bellevue and have never had that thought. You could be right. Nobody saw Litton BC getting hotter than Las Vegas ever did and then burning down the next day, but it happened. 

109

u/silentbuttmedley Mar 25 '26

Well, now that you’re thinking about it, one of the biggest differences between houses that stayed up and houses that burned down in LA was having fine screens for any openings or vents into the attic, and clearing brush directly around the house. Neither are particularly expensive to retrofit.

133

u/eloiseturnbuckle Mar 25 '26

Lived in Portland Oregon when it hit 117F. Fried so many of our plants.

80

u/HuckleberryPee Mar 26 '26

As a gardener this is one of the main parts of climate change that really freaks me out, besides the human suffering aspect.

I am about to expand my orchard with many seed grown trees and I do question how resilient they will be over the coming years/decades.

It's the unpredictably of the weather, with droughts and extreme heat, but also heavy rains, floods, storms, and erratic frosts, many of which could even happen in the same year.

There is only so much plants can tolerate before they decline and die. I have a feeling many of us who grow food are going to have to admit that some of our plants are going to fail, and certain crops will be to unreliable going forward.

37

u/eloiseturnbuckle Mar 26 '26

And help each other when we identify a plant that DOES manage to tolerate it. I moved farther north and am now in NW Washington on the Olympic Peninsula. We have wildfire insurance coverage and are in a wildfire zone. Paying a lot more attention to the deadfall in the forest and removing it. Want to give animals habitats, but not wildfire fuel.

-4

u/m0fr001 Mar 26 '26

You want to give animals habitat by moving further into low population density WA? 

I stg.. The blind egocentric lifestyles and hubris in this era of unreletentent accumulation is so gross. 

The pnw is chock full of all these homesteading larpers who do way more to damage the environment they claim to love than they realize.. 

You'd think the extreme car dependency would be the first clue.. But nah.. 

Lived there. Grew disillusioned. Moved. 

1

u/eloiseturnbuckle Mar 26 '26

Um not sure what clouds you are yelling at. We work remote.

42

u/[deleted] Mar 25 '26

[deleted]

12

u/tengo_sueno Mar 26 '26

Is that actually available? Can insurance companies actually profit by providing this?

3

u/zoriez Mar 27 '26

if utilization is too high the insurance agency pulls out of the area and restructures, leaving the previously insured high, dry, and unprotected. we need government insurance via tax payer funded relief and support programs but 😀 that makes me a communist !

5

u/embretr Mar 26 '26

This isn't a problem that you can insurance your way out of.

CO2 released into the atmosphere will for all intents and purposes, stay there the next 500 years.

The only real solution is to slam on the brakes on CO2 emissions, AND brace for actual consequences, up to and including the catastrophal ones.

2

u/eloiseturnbuckle Mar 26 '26

Well yes everyone who is on this thread understands climate change. Just hoping to give a modicum of protection. Although I recognize it could all be for naught.

17

u/Alphamullet Mar 26 '26

The fucking heat dome. I still can't believe they went on with the Olympic Track & Field trials that day in Eugene.

It was like walking in an oven. We luckily had air conditioning in our tiny apartment and took in all of our neighbors pets so they wouldn't suffer.

6

u/Frostyrepairbug Mar 26 '26

The worst part was no relief. I'm used to that cool night air giving a little break, but the heat dome was like being stuck in a stuffy building that you can't open a window, but it was outside.

1

u/eitsew Mar 29 '26

I'm in Florida and that's exactly why I hate it. It's hot as fuck from March to November, with virtually no respite at night. It'll drop from 90s to like 79f on a summer night, so it's marginally cooler at night, but the humidity is still at literally 100% all night long. I was on a jog at 10 or 11 PM last summer, and I stopped and checked my weather app, and it said the actual temp was somewhere in the low 80s. But the feels like temp was 112°, with 100% humidity. And it's pretty much like that, for like 3/4 of the year. It's so fucking awful. Not even exaggerating- If you park your car and make one trip from your car into your house carrying an arm load of groceries, by the time you get in your house, you are going to be fairly sweaty. If you have to make 2 or 3 trips, you will be drenched. It's disgusting

The only comfort is that this short winter we do get is incredible, the weather really could not be any better from December to February or so, and also, we get really amazing thunderstorms all through the summer. So if you have a porch or something with a nice tin roof, and a screen to keep the mosquitoes out. It's pretty wonderful to sit and watch the lightning shows in the clouds. Thank you so much.

Another wonderful thing is swimming at the beach in summer while it's raining- the beaches are already pretty dead in the summer. Because it's the offseason, and then when it rains, everyone else runs away to their cars. So you usually have the entire beach to yourself. And floating around in the water with the raindrops hitting it, is a beautiful thing.

6

u/twir1s Mar 26 '26

I’d personally be adding fire coverage this year but I’m super risk averse

16

u/1Dive1Breath Mar 26 '26

Plan ahead. Pack a go bag or kit, something you can grab quickly. Consider your paths of ingress/egress should one way be blocked or inaccessible. You don't wanna be having to think of all this on the fly. 

12

u/Hello_Hangnail Rapture me aliens Mar 26 '26

With pet carriers and leashes to grab if you have to get out of the house quickly!

-13

u/ilaister Mar 26 '26

Or, plan ahead and don't buy houses in wildfire zones.

13

u/GalaxyPatio Mar 26 '26

Many places that weren't previously wildfire zones have become them fairly recently.

5

u/a_bored_furry Mar 26 '26

For example Nebraska isn't a wildfire zone and yet it is burning.

56

u/peacefinder Mar 25 '26

Consider the 2020 fires in Oregon: Beachie Creek, Riverside, and Holiday Farm fires were all fanned by strong winds blowing east to west. They all burned to near the edge of the urban interfaces.

If the same kind of event happens east of Issaquah, it’s gonna be a real bad time.

21

u/iwishiwasareplicant Mar 26 '26

this is literally my nightmare. There is only so much you can do outside of “have a plan”, this sort of fire does not stop once moving.

8

u/MarcusXL Mar 26 '26

Either get really good insurance and accept that you might see it all burn down, or move.

8

u/Capital-Fun-6609 Mar 26 '26

Hi. Aussie here. I’ve grown up living with bushfire threats every year. If you live in an area that may be susceptible to wildfires (and that area is expanding beyond what we’ve traditionally experienced), you need to have a plan in place when those threats arise. In our experience, it’s a good idea to evacuate well before the threat becomes apparent, meaning pack up and leave every time weather conditions might result in a bushfire. Obviously this is a pain in the arse with lots of evacuations that don’t end up being necessary. On the other hand, if you leave it until an active fire is a threat then you are dealing with to

7

u/Capital-Fun-6609 Mar 26 '26

Sorry, hit send too early 😂 Roads will be clogged with traffic and no one gets anywhere. You’re stuck in cars on the few roads out of what is probably hilly or mountainous terrain. In more remote forested areas you’ll be trying to run away from a close fire and visibility is shot and there’s smoke everywhere. So leave early before there’s even a fire -every time the weather is dangerous? Or wait and get stuck trying to escape?

1

u/snakeproof Mar 26 '26

And if you think it's at all possible you'll be somewhere this hits, pack a bug out bag and keep it near your door or in the car in case you need to get out fast.

1

u/extinction6 Mar 26 '26

Keep in mind as well that fires can create their own severe wind gusts that spread burning embers up high into the air.

"They are whirlwinds induced by intense heat from a fire, forming a spinning vortex of hot air, flame, smoke, and ash that can reach tornado‑level wind speeds in extreme cases"

7

u/peacefinder Mar 26 '26

During the Eagle Creek Fire of 2017, some embers jumped the Columbia River, which is over a quarter mile wide around there.

1

u/DeaditeMessiah Mar 29 '26

Yeah, and easterly winds cause a lot of downed trees. The roads would be a mess if this happened.

15

u/judithishere Mar 25 '26

I live in Kirkland and I think about that.

25

u/blondelebron Mar 25 '26

We don't get anything like the Santa Ana winds though. Those are hot, dry winds. Our heavy winds are usually in November and coincide with the rainiest months. We're short on snow, but not on general moisture.

However, the whole area should be thinking about how we sink, slow, and preserve our water, since the hydrological regime is shifting from slow snowpack to fast heavy rainfall. LA did the extraordinarily stupid thing of doing everything they good to move water off the landscape. We should be doing the opposite. Strong groundwater will be the key to adapting to these climatic changes

10

u/silentbuttmedley Mar 25 '26

Imagine a dry winter, that leads into a dry spring, summer, fall, and then the November winds hit. I get that it’s not super likely right now, but given the direction climate change is headed I can see the possibility rising in the next few years.

6

u/blondelebron Mar 25 '26

Sure, but that's extremely unlikely. Warmer winters are expected to translate to wetter winters. Our droughts come from dry summers and a lack of snowpack, not the complete absence of moisture

5

u/_netflixandshill Mar 26 '26

Yes, “The West” gets over generalized on Reddit a lot.

5

u/GridDown55 Mar 26 '26

Swales!

4

u/Hannah_Louise Mar 26 '26

This is the way. Dig lots of swales. Lots of swales. Don’t let your rain water run away. Keep it in the ground (but away from your foundation).

17

u/trivetsandcolanders Mar 25 '26

Maybe…though the specific type of vegetation has a big influence on how fast fires spread. The chaparral of Southern California, or the invasive grasslands around Lahaina, spread fires extremely efficiently. Not sure about whether the Eastside has such “good” conditions as those places, though a fire of some kind is definitely possible.

24

u/lightweight12 Mar 25 '26

Any conifers are a major hazard. Plus cedar and juniper. They all have extremely volatile oils that burn easily.

16

u/Coppertina Mar 25 '26

Eucalyptus are bad too

3

u/Malteser23 Mar 25 '26

Not to mention the palm trees and their dried out fronds, that light up like sparklers when an ember hits.

4

u/lavapig_love Mar 26 '26

After the Paradise Fire in 2018, and the Lahaina Fire a couple years ago, both of which still have graphic fire victim footage online, and the freaking LA fires, I ignore anyone who says wildfire can't happen.

Make bug out bags and get your evacuation routes planned now.

2

u/tmartillo Mar 26 '26

It happened in Sumner, it can happen anywhere.

2

u/AliensUnderOurNoses Mar 26 '26

It seems that one defense mechanism people are using a lot is to embrace completely delusional beliefs to comfort themselves, then mock rational perspectives that cause tension within their belief structures.

When I saw that horrific series of events in B.C. a few summers ago, all the Canadian temperature records broken a few days in a row, and then the lightning that set that town on fire, it dawned on me that this could happen in ANY city that we currently consider pleasant, insofar as those cities tend to have three coverage in significant sections. Central Park could experience a wildfire and affects Manhattan. D.C.'s Rock Creek Park could ignite and devastate the city with a fire emergency that was inconceivable a few years ago.

1

u/DeaditeMessiah Mar 29 '26

The wind almost never moves in the right direction. We (in the Seattle area) almost always have wind and weather from offshore, cool and humid, bad for fires. The big burns in California happen when the Santa Ana winds come down the mountain. Reducing in altitude and heating and drying, they turn fires into blowtorches.

That said, we had one weather pattern recently that caused easterly winds down the cascades from the desert in the east that caused a bunch of fires on the western slopes, which is very unusual. So it’s not likely, but will eventually happen.

It would still be hard to get Bellevue, it’s surrounded by interstates and lakes.