Gas prices, weather and wildfires...

Tvov wrote:

ktmrfs wrote:
fires are for us the biggest downside to camping. Until a few years ago it seemed like we didn't go into fire season till august and only a few places had many fire restrictions or any fires nearby. Then it started to change. Last year was the worst in a long time for us. Fire restriction including no campires and in some case no propane stoves outside started in July. By august smoke from fires got bad. By september it was awful. We were down near Crater Lake and a few days it was so bad you couldn't see the Lake and they didn't even have any tours or boat rides.

And this year so far isn't looking great either. Hope I'm wrong, but it sure puts a damper on enjoying campouts.

Fuel prices I could really care less about. A few years ago I was paying over $4.00/gallon for diesel, now it's down to $3.00 or so, which on an inflation adjusted amount is inline with the average prices for decades and decades.

Just looked at a graph and in 1978 fuel price adjusted for inflation was $2.65/gallon. And inflation adjusted it's pretty constant over the last 40 years or so. A few weeks ago here, one of he higher prices in the U.S. was $2.80 for regular, $3.10 for premium, $3.05 for diesel.

It's now at $3.00 for regular.

What has the weather been like in your area? Here in Connecticut, it has been a VERY wet winter. All the ponds and lakes are very full, the woods are soaking wet. Pretty much any thoughts of "drought" have been banished.

Considering how much I've been hearing about all the snow out west, would that shorten the wildfire season?

It's been a mixed bag. We are well below normal rainfall, other places well above. And the same for snowpack. It varies from about average to well below in some places and well above in others. However, snowpack isn't always a good indication of fire danger. If spring has lots of rain often that means LOTS of early plant growth, great spring flowers and then increased fire danger in the summer as there is lots of dry fuel as the growth drys out regardless of snowpack. Snowpack helps the streams and rivers, but doesn't do a lot for low lying meadows etc.

And lots of places have had the heavy spring rains.

I just hope it doesn't end up like the last few summers with large fires in Montana, Idaho, Oregon and California. Seemed like we were in smoke much of the summer no matter where we were. Even bad many days at home.