Not a very pleasant topic. I hope no one here's directly affected by them, but, having been in a fire years ago, my heart goes out to those afftected.
But you don't usualy think about the magnitude of such a fire's impact. Today was a very interesting day up here, high in the Colorado mountains. I went downtown to the PO this afternoon to fetch a long triangle tube from our favorite pusher. When I walked out of my office to my car, I felt like I was back in the fog on the Oregon beach.
This was the view from my house tonight...
This was the view I usually see (just melt the snow)...
Back in 2006 (IIRC) there were some fires in the LA area that were tracked on satellite images all the way up to our little valley. Though I can't find pics online right now, sounds like they've done the same thing this time.
"Looking at satellite trajectories, we can follow it all the way back to California," said Larson [a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Grand Junction]. "There is a long line of smoke. These fires are so large and burning so hot, they're generating their own weather and lofting smoke thousands of feet into the atmosphere."A similar thing happened when Mt St. Helens blew her top a few years back.
I know this is serious stuff, but it's interesting how it can affect other parts of the country.
