Jesusita Fire
A fire started above Santa Barbara yesterday that was christened the Jesusita Fire.
This one came as somewhat of a surprise given it is still the first week of May (I accidentally started to type "June").
It began yesterday afternoon and driven by a modest Sundowner burned burned through about 200 acres of brush above the Mission Canyon area on the Santa Barbara Front.
It put up a lot of white to light brown smoke but burned no homes.
By nightfall the fire had calmed with the very winds that fanned it and made it possible given how early in the year it is for this sort of fire (in heavy brush when most early season fires are in grass).
The one saving grace yesterday was that humidities were actually relatively high at about 35-45% with modest temperatures. In fact it was cloudy upwind of the fire.
Today dawned distinctly warmer and dryer and although I live about a hundred air miles northwest of this fire the winds that become the Sundowner over the Santa Ynez Mountains must first blow by me here in Atascadero.
I worked the first half of the day at my mother's house and monitored the situation throughout the day.
I specifically checked KEYT-TV at 3:30 P.M. to see if the fire was doing anything and they had no coverage of it at that time.
Unbeknownst to me at just about that time the predicted Sundowner hit with a vengeance and according to witnesses the situation changed from pretty quiet to chaos over about a twenty minute span.
By late tonight it appears scores of homes are destroyed and two hikers known to be in the fire area are missing at last word.
Furthermore, five firefighters are known to be burned with three from Ventura County FD being sent to the Grossman Burn Center in Sherman Oaks while a Los Angeles County FD rig was damaged (all the exterior plastic was melted).
To give you an idea of what the Sundowner did to the weather today, Santa Barbara Airport smashed its old record high temperature for the day which was 86* F. with a new daily high temperature of 100* F.
The reason for this is due to the Sundowner coming from the northwest and over the mountains. As air ascends to pass over the Santa Ynez Mountains it dries out due to orographic lifting which causes moisture to condense out of the air. Then when the air descends onto the Gaviota Coast on the other side the mountains it compresses which causes it to heat and hence the lower humidities and high temperatures along the Gaviota Coast today compared to inland in the Santa Ynez Valley north of the Santa Ynez Mountains.
Tomorrow looks to be about as warm but dryer and with high pressure aloft building in from the west the next couple of days the winds could be as strong or stronger than what we saw today.
If this forecast plays out as forecasted there could be a calamitous fire in the Santa Barbara area as a repeat of today's conditions but with a much larger fire area from which to start could lead to unprecedented destruction there.
Did Delta II Rocket Start Jesusita Fire?
Coincidentally or not, the fire began at about the same time as Vandenberg Air Force Base launched a Delta II rocket with a semi-secret payload of a spy satellite.
The USAF denies any connection but residents in the area of the point of origin report hearing a loud band or explosion immediately preceding the outbreak of the fire so one has to wonder if something broke off the rocket on ascent.
Vandenberg Witness
While looking up the time of the Delta II rocket launch at Vandenberg AFB a short time ago I came across this WEBSITE. All I can really say in response is S...H...E...E...P...!...S...H...E...E...P...!......
Proscript Gems & Minerals
The other day I received a phone call from one Don Ricky of Proscript Gem & Minerals.
Apparently he is a former member of the Santa Barbara gem and mineral club that seems to have fallen off the face of the Earth as did their club show some years ago.
Don told me he used to be the main guy who put that show on but got tired of not having any help of which to speak and then he left the club after one particular member (club officer) started doing things in a manner with which he did not agree and to which he was not willing to be a party.
Anywho, he used to do shows, stopped for a number of years and now wants to get back into the game and called to ask me about getting into the upcoming SLOGMC June show.
I had to tell him his odds are slim given Dean Welder of Peregrine Rocks & Trading Post is ahead of him in line and only God knows whom else. Don is a nice guy and I hope to meet him sometime and maybe even do some rockhounding with him.
Relationships
Tonight my girlfriend and I had our first big heart-to-heart/state-of-the-relationship talk in awhile.
It was not only enlightening and therapeutic for both of us but also "detoxifying" to use a chic expression. Relationships are certainly complicated things and yet so much about them is so simple even a caveman could conduct one successfully. Okay, that may be a bit of a stretch.
However, genuine love and like and thus respect and humility and patience and empathy and open lines of communication and being a good listener will go far in a relationship and in turn make a relationship go far.
Quote of the Day
"The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter."
~ Winston Churchill
Kimmer
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