‘It Could Happen Tomorrow’: San Diego-area wildfire review; Fort Worth implosion images; Watches issued as winter storm approaches Colo.; Next storm, significant snow expected in Reno/Tahoe area Monday; About 1,500 homes damaged in last weekend’s tornado outbreak; Thieves strike after tornado damages homes; Rain, sleet pelt charred Texas Panhandle; One of Mars rover’s wheels stops working
‘It Could Happen Tomorrow’: San Diego-Area Wildfire Review: Airing Sunday evening, the San Diego-area wildfire episode of “It Could Happen Tomorrow” takes a look at the destruction a massive wildfire would cause if it were to rage from 30 miles east of San Diego all the way to the affluent La Jolla and the Pacific Ocean within 36 hours.
The episode includes interviews with residents who mention their greater fear of a tsunami than wildfires, but the show uses footage from 2003 to show that a wildfire could prove more destructive. In the fall of 2003, a wildfire burned to within 10 miles of San Diego, and destroyed thousands of homes before winds from the southeast shifted.
The show suggests “it could happen tomorrow” if those Santa Ana winds persist for a few days, and explains the amount of evacuation time residents would have. Focusing on the Scripps Ranch and La Jolla subdivisions, the episode also offers plenty of wildfire video from recent years and commentary from experts.
As many know, the Texas Panhandle has just experienced wildfires that have left an area the size of Delaware charred. It seems inevitable that, one day, a wildfire could enter a major U.S. city.
In this year of drought and wildfires from the Southwest to the East Coast, the episode offers useful information. One tip: Don’t go for the garden hose, hoist yourself up on the roof and play firefighter. As one expert noted, he doesn’t know of any home that’s more valuable than a life.
The episode airs March 19, at 9:30 p.m. EST on The Weather Channel.
Fort Worth Implosion: (Image links to large version in a new window)
The 30-story Landmark Tower, built in the 1950s and the tallest building in Fort Worth at the time [1958 pic/more old photos], was brought down at 7:40 a.m. Saturday, 20 minutes early because of a nearby storm. A revolving clock on its roof quit working in 1988. Images of the dust cloud, left after the largest-ever implosion in Texas, were taken from Sylvania in N. Fort Worth.
Story/Video: Fort Worth implosion goes off without a hitch (Videos from the air and ground inside)
Weather News: Watches issued as winter storm approaches Colorado: Significant snow possible by Monday … Weather and live webcam images for Denver-area and W. Colorado
From Reno: Next storm, significant snow expected Monday
About 1,500 homes damaged in last weekend’s tornado outbreak
Thieves strike after tornado damages homes
Rain, sleet pelt charred Texas Panhandle
Space News: One of Mars rover’s wheels stops working
Top 5 WXnation.com city weather and webcam pages visited on Friday: 1. Dallas/Fort Worth 2. Los Angeles 3. Savannah 4. New York City 5. Reno … See the top 20 so far this month in the center column of our home page.
