Large wildfires can create decade-long heat island in the wild

2 comments

1. Considering they can smoulder undetected underground for years, not very surprised.

   edit: I see there’s a downvote…so here’s a few sources [1A. CBC](https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/here-s-how-wildfires-can-burn-underground-for-months-or-even-years-1.5111276) [1B. CBC](https://www.cbc.ca/news/climate/wildfires-zombie-fires-canada-bc-alberta-1.7119851) [2. BBC](https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20240528-why-canada-is-riddled-with-wildfires-that-burn-year-round) [3. CBS](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/canada-wildfires-never-stopped-zombie-fires-smolder-winter/) [4. Bloomberg](https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2024-underground-wildfires/) [5. Weather Network](https://www.theweathernetwork.com/en/news/nature/outdoors/alberta-has-dozens-of-wildfires-still-burning-this-winter-heres-why) …and that was page one of a very simple search.

2. They forgot to pluralize decade.

   It is unbearable to backpack under the sun in burn zones where the soil burned 1-2 ft BELOW ground and there is complete tree mortality over 30k acres (manhattan isle x2). It truly is reminiscent of Mordor. The snow melts off weeks before unburned zones. At the height of summer you may as well be in the desert SW.

   North Waldo Oregon burned in 1996 and was STILL hot, dusty, and smoothed in downed burned logs in 2022. It then burned again and is now a wide open sandy/ash desert at 6000 ft. It has and will be a giant heat island for DECADES. Unfortunately oregon has many places like this now.