WILDFIRES and a SUPER TYPHOON IN THE ORIENT

Yesterday I focused on Woodstock, that generation-defining rock concert held 57 years ago.  I opened with those wildfires in Southern California.  I should have also added another, more serious one, in Indonesia.  From Google AI:

Indonesia is currently battling its worst season of toxic forest and peatland wildfires in over a decade, which have scorched nearly two million hectares of land and triggered severe health crises across Southeast Asia. Artificial intelligence is playing a major dual role in this crisis, serving as both a powerful tool for emergency detection and a vehicle for misinformation on social media. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]

The Scale of the Havoc

• Unprecedented Destruction: Spurred by a severe, climate-change-fueled El Niño dry season, fires concentrated heavily in Borneo (Kalimantan) and Sumatra have generated massive plumes of dense smoke. Independent monitors like the Nusantara Atlas estimate the burned area at over 1.9 million hectares. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]
• Regional Toxic Haze: The resulting "orange haze" has pushed air pollution indices to hazardous levels exceeding 1,200 to 1,300 in cities like Palangka Raya. The toxic smog has drifted across international borders into Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, and East Timor, shutting down schools and causing more than 283,000 acute respiratory infections in Indonesia alone. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]
• 
  The Peatland Obstacle: Much of the burning occurs in drained peatlands. These fires burn underground, smoldering for months, making them incredibly difficult to extinguish using traditional water bombing. This has prompted the Indonesian government to trial aggressive workarounds like deploying dry ice by plane. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

Much of southeast Asia is suffering from this almost annual problem.  Watch this video showing the unhealthy air pollution hurting Singapore, now in the second week.  How bad?  So unhealthy that schools have closed in Singapore, Malaysia and adjacent countries.  Singapore has sued 10 Indonesian companies for being irresponsible, for these fires are also being set by them to clear lands.  Photo of Kuala Lumpur:

See that worse in over a decade above?  Read my posting of 4October 2015 when I was visiting Singapore.  Here is a photo of the Marina Bay Sands complex 11 years ago.

To quote:

This problem has been occurring since the early 1970's when illegal agricultural fires in Indonesia during the dry season spread a deadly haze throughout Southeast Asia.  How can this happen?  Well, it is cheaper and faster to burn rather than cut and slash to provide lands for palm oil and other crops.  And the government wishes not to do much about that.

Another problem is Super Typhoon Champi:

• The eye center passed about 12 miles south of Guam this weekend as a Category 4, and soon thereafter strengthened into a Category 5 Super Typhoon.
• Thankfully, it was not a direct hit, for Guam avoided catastrophic damage.
• Champi is the ninth Category 5 typhoon so far in 2026.

• Guam, with a population of 170,000 gets regularly threatened:

According to the NOAA historical hurricane tracks website, from 1948-2025, no fewer than 27 typhoons of category 1 or higher passed within 50 miles of Guam; 14 were major Cat 3 or stronger storms. Champi is the second major typhoon this year to come within 50 miles (80 km) of Guam, after Super Typhoon Bavi, which passed about 45 miles (75 km) north of Guam on July 5 at peak strength with 180 mph (285 km/h) winds. In addition, Cat 4 Typhoon Sinlaku passed about 110 miles (175 km) north of Guam on April 14.  Sinlaku peaked at 185 MPH!

According to EM-DAT, the international disasters database, the strongest and most destructive typhoon to hit Guam was Typhoon Karen of 1962, which hit the island Nov. 11 as a category 5 storm with 170 mph (275 km/h) winds, killing six and doing $2.9 billion in damage (2026 dollars). Guam’s deadliest typhoon was Pamela of 1976, which hit May 21 as a category 4 storm with 140 mph (225 km/h) winds, killing nine and doing over $700 million in damage.  Watch this video.

Super Typhoon Champi:

• Became a typhoon on October 16.
• Quickly strengthened to 150 MPH on October 17.
• Weakened to 140 MPH on October 18.
• Jumped up to 160 MPH today.
• Was originally headed straight for Taiwan.
• Now, a slight turn north is projected towards Okinawa.
• 
  Should weaken, but as a Category 2, will get close to Iriomote Island, part of Okinawa Prefecture.
• Population of just under 2347.
• Only accessible by ferry.
• Famed for the Iriomote cat, only found on this island.  Said to be the rarest cat in the world.

Saturday Night Live's show on October 10 was, well, controversial.

• As you must know, most of the show is in real time.
• Comedian Shane Gillis was host, and dropped an F-bomb.
• In his monologue, he also said, Women just dress like wh***s.
• Why he had this platform is at issue because he previously was fired from SNL for his offensive comments.

So when will the live show be returning?  

• Not this weekend, nor next Saturday.  
• But watch Halloween Night, October 13.
• There will be a first time host, Inde Navarette.    She was in Obsession, a summer hit.  Rated R, and got, wow....Rotten Tomatoes ratings of 93/94.  Can be watched on Peacock.
• Heard of Gracie Abrams?  She will be the guest performer.

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