First of all, for those coming to Texas for the 2023 annular and the 2024 total, welcome to our state. I hope there are clear skies for everyone.
A VERY common source of wildfires is cars pulling off the side of the road into dry grass, which is then set on fire by the car's hot catalytic converter. You may know better than to do this, but a lot of people do not. As you can imagine there are going to be a lot of cars pulling off roads into the grass during the 2023 and 2024 events.
Texas, especially the central part of the state, is under record drought conditions. For example, two of the local area reservoirs (lakes) near San Antonio (Medina Lake and Canyon Lake) are at all-time record lows. As a result of the drought, there is a LOT of dry fuel on the ground ready to go off. The Hill Country area is covered with juniper bushes/trees (a.k.a. mountain cedars) that burn like flamethrowers when they ignite. If you have ever seen a dry Christmas tree burn, it's like that. Grazing lands on the many Texas ranches are the same way.
Both zones of totality (annular and total) go right through the center of these areas of abundant, dry fuel. That's where everyone will be of course. Ugh.
A grass fire, especially with a little wind, spreads VERY quickly, like walking speed if not running speed. If you want to see examples of this, google the Bastrop, Texas fire of 2011. Here is the wiki.,,
https://en.wikipedia...ty_Complex_Fire
The only way to fight it, other than not starting it in the first place, is to put it out immediately. Your best chance of doing this is with a fire extinguisher you can get to fast. Please bring one with you if you can.
Hopefully we will get a lot of rain by April 2024, but, short of a direct hit from a major hurricane, conditions will almost certainly remain very dry for the October 2023 annular.
Please, enjoy your eclipse, but PLEASE, be safe. I am not an alarmist guy, but I want as many people as possible to know of the risk, and how bad things can get really fast if a fire starts.
Thanks
Edited by DeudeMann, 28 September 2023 - 11:13 AM.