Be honest: if, before you read this you were asked ‘what was the worst thing about 1998’, would you have said ‘El Nino’?
The only thing I associate with the year 1998, when I was 15 years old and living in Florida, is the phrase “the fires of ’98”, referring to a particularly severe fire season, with memories of driving across interstate highways with limited visibility due to smoke.
Interesting, thanks for sharing! I hadn’t heard of this.
From Wikipedia:
An El Nino during the winter of 1998 produced above-average rainfall, which enabled extensive growth of underbrush and vegetation in the state’s forests. In early April, however, the rains came to an abrupt halt, and the ensuing drought lasted until July.[2] These months of continuing dry conditions saw the drought index rise to 700 (out of 800), indicating wildfire potential similar to that usually found in western states.
I would assume that the drought was also exacerbated by El Nino, but its interesting that the main contributer is implied to be the rainfall in winter, rather than the heat the next summer.
Yeah climate change has two pretty consistent trends: average heat slowly rising, and variance of phenomena definitely higher. More extremes on a variety of axes.
The only thing I associate with the year 1998, when I was 15 years old and living in Florida, is the phrase “the fires of ’98”, referring to a particularly severe fire season, with memories of driving across interstate highways with limited visibility due to smoke.
I just Googled it and it has a Wikipedia page apparently: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1998_Florida_wildfires
Interesting, thanks for sharing! I hadn’t heard of this.
From Wikipedia:
I would assume that the drought was also exacerbated by El Nino, but its interesting that the main contributer is implied to be the rainfall in winter, rather than the heat the next summer.
Yeah climate change has two pretty consistent trends: average heat slowly rising, and variance of phenomena definitely higher. More extremes on a variety of axes.