The speed with which bushfires and forest fires rage is hard to fathom. The heat coming from them generates its own wind which then fuels the flames even further.
Hawaii is the latest place in our heating world to fall victim to wildfire. The deadly fires which have raged across the island of Maui in recent days, killing at least 53 people (and rising), trapping thousands of others, and doing incredible damage to communities and infrastructure, were sparked by several months of drought and exacerbated by a channel of strong winds between Hurricane Dora to the south and an anticyclone to the north.
Just last month, destructive fires ripped through the Greek islands of Rhodes and Corfu. Others swept through parts of southern Italy and Spain, accompanying a heatwave with temperatures in the low- to mid-40°C range.
The United States has also been plagued by wildfire in recent years. But its 50th and newest state, an archipelago of eight volcanic islands in the North Pacific Ocean, is usually in the news for other reasons.
Hawaii is extremely active volcanically, and its worst natural disasters to date have either been eruptions or earthquakes, or have come from the sea in the form of tsunami or hurricanes.
The deadliest event in Hawaiian history was man-made, with the attack on Pearl Harbour by Japanese pilots in December 1941 responsible for killing a staggering number of people, more than 2400 including civilians.
In recent years, including several times this year, the world has watched agog as fountains and rivers of lava have spewed from the volcano Kilauea, with some eruptions sweeping away homes and villages.
The images of flames consuming the land this week look familiar then, but of course this time they have not been generated by titanic underground forces.
With the heft of the US behind it, Hawaiians, especially residents of Maui, can be sure of the best possible support and recovery operation. President Joe Biden has already declared a major disaster and federal aid is making its way to those affected.
Down here in the South Pacific, we should be watching closely these fires and heeding warnings that a warming climate is going to increase such conflagrations here.
And another thing . . .
Meanwhile, it has been a blast of frigid air off the Antarctic which has been causing problems in the past few days.
At the same time as nationwide demand for power soared, Dunedin Airport’s runway turned to ice, as did streets and roads across the city and the South
Still, we shouldn’t to be too surprised. It is, after all, winter, even if this is the third snowy blast in the past six weeks.
Despite the forecasts for spells of low snow for much of this week, it seems the Dunedin City Council might not have been as prepared as it could have been.
After a spate of early morning crashes on Thursday, highlighted by chaos at the top end of Stuart St in which vehicles were left higgledy-piggledy across the road and a grit-spreading truck became stuck, council roading contractors appeared to suggest the forecasters had it wrong.
Transport delivery manager Ben Hogan said contractors had been monitoring the conditions but were stood down at 11pm on Wednesday because snow flurries were not settling. The chemical de-icing agent CMA was not, therefore, spread on roads.
However, snow and small hail showers continued from midnight until around 4am, after which the freeze set in and roads turned icy. Grit-truck drivers were then sent out to do what they could.
Any suggestion that a spell of snow and hail about 3am had come "despite earlier forecasts" is not correct. MetService forecasts were warning that wintry showers, and snow to about 200m above sea-level, was likely to continue all night and into Thursday morning.
It’s always easiest to blame the forecasters.
