The Gifford Fire burning north of Santa Barbara has now burned almost 84,000 acres as of Tuesday evening… which makes it the largest fire that we’ve had in California this year. It started just last Friday afternoon. The fire has a pattern of being active in the afternoon and evening hours, and calming down by sunrise. Why is that? Because around sunrise, the atmosphere is at its coolest. The cool, heavy air traps the smoke and carbon dioxide near the surface, almost “choking” the fire, which needs fresh oxygen to grow. The atmosphere warms up by the afternoon, the inversion (and smoke) lifts, and the fire can ventilate the smoke out. Now the fire can draw fresh oxygen in at the surface, which it needs. This robust afternoon/evening circulation allows the fire to grow rapidly… until the atmosphere cools down again overnight, and we start the whole cycle over again. #california #fresno #video #trending #giffordfire #madrefire #cafires #fire