Winter Had Almost No Moisture; Now New Mexico Bracing For "The Big One" After Record Post-2000 Fires

[hatrack]

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As 2018 heats up, with almost no winter moisture to tamp down the concern, the specter of the next big fire looms over the Jemez Mountains and much of the rest of New Mexico. “It’s definitely on folks’ minds,” Larson says.

Throughout Northern New Mexico, residents talk about it in passing at the store and at church; at ballgames and businesses; at kitchen tables and office water coolers.

The dryness and the warm temperatures are nearly impossible to ignore, especially when your community is surrounded by forest on all sides. And with spring and summer approaching, federal and state agencies are calling in crews a few weeks ahead of the usual schedule — all eyes cast with a sense of foreboding on the Land of Enchantment’s meager snowpack and dense forests.

The question is: Will this year bring the big one? Meteorologists say the snowstorms that have dusted the area in recent weeks will not put any significant dent in the drought conditions that cover virtually the entire state. From prescribed burns to clearing brush, New Mexicans are preparing — perhaps more intentionally than 20 or 30 years ago, when the realities of climate change were not so painfully obvious.

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http://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/bracing-for-the-big-one-this-wildfire-season/article_15b30dc4-ed44-5943-80d4-50e4b4d22f62.html

[mountain grammy]

1. One of my favorite places in the west, New Mexico.

It's so much like Colorado when I moved here 34 years ago. Lot's of open space and reasonable traffic, beautiful landscapes and ancient ruins everywhere you go. Hoping for a wet spring.

[NickB79]

2. How much carbon will that put into the atmosphere when those forests burn?

Positive feedback loops have engaged.