{"id":354218,"date":"2024-12-13T10:30:41","date_gmt":"2024-12-13T09:30:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=354218"},"modified":"2024-12-13T10:30:44","modified_gmt":"2024-12-13T09:30:44","slug":"applying-scale-and-context-to-the-texas-smokehouse-creek-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=354218","title":{"rendered":"Applying Scale and Context to the Texas Smokehouse Creek Fire"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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From Watts Up With That?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Guest \u201cscale & context\u201d by\u00a0 David Middleton<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have been meaning to write a post about his since March\u2026 But the year went by way too fast\u2026 Although January 20, 2025 can\u2019t get here fast enough!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back in February, the ever-unreliable USA Today<\/em> published an article about the largest wildfire in Texas history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Where are the wildfires in Texas right now? Map shows extent of devastation<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Stephen J. Beard<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

USA TODAY<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

With more than 1.1 million acres burned, the Smokehouse Creek Fire in the Texas Panhandle is now the largest wildfire in the state\u2019s history. The uncontained blaze<\/a> has forced evacuations from hundreds of homes, cattle ranches and businesses and caused two deaths. A combination of dry conditions, unseasonably warm weather and strong winds<\/a> has fueled the fire, which began Feb. 26.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How big is the Smokehouse Creek Fire?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

At an estimated 1,076,638 acres, or roughly 1,700 square miles, the blaze has now topped the 2006 East Amarillo Complex fire to become the largest wildfire in the state\u2019s history, according to figures released Thursday by the Texas A&M Forest Service<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

[\u2026]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

USA Today<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The \u201cstate\u2019s history\u201d of wildfires goes all the way back to 2005.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Fire Statistics<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The historical data reflects wildfire response for Texas A&M Forest Service and local fire departments*. Prior to 2005, official wildfire data was not captured using current reporting methods. There is no official data prior to 2005 posted on this site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Texas A&M Forest Service<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The data support the exact opposite of a trend of increasing wildfire damage.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The\u00a0USA Today<\/em>\u00a0is historically most well known for its flashy graphics. And the Texas wildfire article was no disappointment here. The article included this image of the Smokehouse Creek Fire on a map of North Texas and the Panhandle.<\/p>\n\n\n

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USA Today<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

As a geologist, who lives in Dallas and works in Houston, this provided all of the scale and context that I needed. The fire was about 300 miles (as the crow flies) from our home in Dallas. The map has a scale bar in the bottom left corner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In all of their lack of wisdom, the USA Today decided that a total lack of scale and context was needed<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For a size comparison, this is what the burn area of the Smokehouse Creek Fire would look like compared to the state of Connecticut:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

USA Today<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rather than using a scale bar, the authors used an outline of the state of \u201cConnecticut for scale.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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USA Today<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

As a geologist and \u201cnaturalized\u201d Texan, who was born, raised and educated in the formerly great state of Connecticut, I found this map to be particularly hilarious. The Smokehouse Creek Fire was VERY big and Connecticut is VERY small.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The city of Houston, Texas would cover most of Connecticut.,<\/p>\n\n\n

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Connecticut vs Houston TX (True Size Of<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

As would the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex (DFW)\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n

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Connecticut vs DFW (True Size Of<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

As if this wasn\u2019t funny enough,\u00a0USA Today<\/em>\u00a0also threw in the good old Manhattan decoy:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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