Quote:
Originally Posted by GoldenBoot
No. The cold spell of 2011 was not the reason for the unprecedented number of wildfires throughout the state that year. It was the culmination of a years-long drought plus high winds during that time.
The last time Austin saw this type of cold - for that length of time - was in 1983, I believe. Austin was at or under 32° for 140 consecutive hours (an all-time record for Camp Mabry). I believe this past event stretched the record out to 164 hours. We recorded 184 consecutive hours at or below freezing at my house (which is in the hills, outside of any concrete heating affect of most urban areas).
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The cold event of 2011 did contribute to the fires yes it most certainly did sir... Yes the drought caused by a La Niña also helped in setting up the fire, but you can not take out the addition of that winter cold snap in contribution to what happened later that year. Its called cause and effect and you can have multiple causes in what effect occurs. In 2015 we again saw wildfires in what was an extremely wet year, however wet it was during the first quarter, we then had 3 months of bone dry weather drying out a ton of plant growth which had occurred prior to the flash drought. So again different factors but can still lead to the same effect.
Now here we are, Another La Niña, this one could be multi year, hopefully not, but at this time that's what it looks like. You have a winter storm event which has killed off a massive amount of flora, so the ingredients are set for what could be a really bad wildfire year... Again I've been studying this for 20 years, I know what the hell I'm talking about thank you very much..
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