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nita
Social climber
chica de chico, I don't claim to be a daisy.
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Aug 22, 2013 - 08:46pm PT
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Mr K, Here is a picture of Matt.
How did the melon caper go?
edit: Mr K, glad you made some money and passed on some goodness...cool.
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dave729
Trad climber
Western America
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Aug 22, 2013 - 09:31pm PT
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Thanks for the link Murcy.
The white clouds above the darker
smoke just stood out and had to ask. Have to look back at other
recent fires to see if they had pyrocumulus clouds
RA sorry about your air quality. Those canyons have huge fuel loads
and with the wind make a terrible combination.
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neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
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Aug 22, 2013 - 09:52pm PT
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hey there say, khanom, :)... i was off line, for a phone call from england...
nita got ol' matt up there...
he'd be with a horse, too...
had a good prayer session with the gal from england...
thank you so much, nita, :)
ps:
my folks had heard the same info that i heard, but they heard it from chappy, :)
see up thread, i think i got this post through, on dial up, earlier, pretty sure it took... :
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Dr.Sprock
Boulder climber
I'm James Brown, Bi-atch!
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Aug 22, 2013 - 09:58pm PT
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should start to slow as it hits more granite, less fuel and higher, cooler elev.
that part of the T canyon has always generated massive up canyon winds,
dang kayakers probably having a 420 "safety meeting" while scouting clavey falls,
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Ward Trotter
Trad climber
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Aug 22, 2013 - 10:19pm PT
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This thing is now starting to expand to the west and NW and continuing North and NE.
Tomorrow's winds are forecast to be out of the SSW at 5-10 mph. Not good for the northern flank.
The winds have been shifting around quite a bit the last few days. Not good. And probably a large part of the problem for firefighters.
Props and respect to the hard working firefighting crews on this difficult fire.
We know you are in harms way and we greatly appreciate your efforts. Stay safe.
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HighTraverse
Trad climber
Bay Area
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Aug 23, 2013 - 12:17am PT
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2500 structures threatened.
In a sparsely populated area, that's going to take a huge effort.
Awesome DC-10 pic. Thank Gov Jerry for committing to a season long lease for that beast early in the year. It's not exclusively for California but at least we have a new contract (the Legislature canceled last year).
http://www.10tanker.com/the-plane.html
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Mazzystr
Gym climber
Homeless...
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Aug 23, 2013 - 12:35am PT
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We're following along in the east (Raleigh, NC). We send our prayers for the safety the crew and civilians.
Those smoke plumes are colossal. We get storms that come up from South Carolina that track NE and parallel the Atlantic shore about 100miles in. The city of Wilson, NC gets their ass handed to them when they arrive. We can see the cloud plumes all the way in Raleigh and we're about 50 miles away.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cumulonimbus
I watched that Eva Marie Schicke video. Tragic. I watched an aerial battle with fire in Tuolumne Grove while hanging off the side of North Dome for 2 weeks in 06. I had no idea the danger and effort that went fire fighting in mountainous terrain.
Wow! Amazing that there are DC-10's still in the air!
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the albatross
Gym climber
Flagstaff
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Aug 23, 2013 - 12:54am PT
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I posted this on May 6 on a different fire thread, but it seems worthy of posting again given the recent conditions. The article touches on some of the challenges fire managers are facing this year.
**California Girds for Severe Fire Season as Dry Lands Burn
**
By Michael B. Marois - 2013-05-06T04:00:01Z
Californians are preparing for a prolonged season of wildfires after an unusually dry winter that left millions of acres of scrub brush in the most populous U.S. state primed to burn.
The tinder-box conditions have sparked more than 840 wildfires since January, about 320 more than the five-year average, according to the state Forestry and Fire Protection Department, known as Cal Fire. A fast-moving fire in Ventura County over the weekend charred an area the size of San Francisco, forced the evacuation of a college with 4,900 students and threatened 4,000 homes northwest of Los Angeles.
Wind-swept fires across the state following similarly dry winter months in 2008 burned more than 1.2 million acres and killed 13 firefighters, according to Cal Fire. In 2007, firestorms swept through Southern California, destroying 1,500 homes, displacing almost a million residents and killing 17.
“It’s pretty shocking that we are having fires of this size already,” said Bill Stewart, a professor of forest economics and policy with the University of California at Berkeley. “It could be a big one. I wouldn’t be surprised if we surpassed 2007.”
The California Department of Water Resources announced May 2 that the state’s snowpack was 17 percent of normal. January through March was the driest first quarter on record for the state, according to the California State Meteorologist.
Budget Cuts
The dangerous conditions come as automatic federal budget cuts called sequestration means the U.S. Forest Service has to cut its budget even though the agency expects this year’s fire season to match and or possibly exceed last year, when 9.3 million acres burned. Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell has said the cuts mean his agency will hire about 500 fewer seasonal firefighters than normal.
Governor Jerry Brown in 2011 signed a budget that reduced the number of firefighters assigned to each engine to three from four as a way save money and help erase what was then a $10 billion deficit. The move restored staffing levels on each truck to where they were before October 2003, when 14 separate massive firestorms scorched more than 750,000 acres, destroyed 1,700 homes and killed 24 people.
Brown told a panel of federal judges May 2 that one way he could comply with their order to reduce overcrowding in state prisons was to move 1,300 inmates to camps where they can be deployed to help on the fire lines. California currently has about 3,700 inmates in such camps.
1,800 Firefighters
More than 1,800 firefighters over the weekend battled a blaze known as the Springs Fire south of Camarillo in Ventura County. Strong Santa Ana winds spread the blaze to more than 43 square miles (111 square kilometers) before crews were able to stall its growth yesterday.
The fire, now mostly under control, had forced officials to evacuate California State University, Channel Islands, and close down portions of State Route 1, known as the Pacific Coast Highway. While no homes were destroyed, 15 were damaged, the Ventura Fire Department said.
Stewart said that even with the dry conditions, how long and often strong winds blow through the summer months will determine whether the state suffers the kinds of massive fires that struck in 2007 and 2008.
“It’s the high winds that really drives up the acreage and pushes the fires up into subdivisions,” he said. “We know we have dry fuel on the ground, we know it’s going to be warm, but what we don’t know yet is how often we are going to have winds.”
Red Flag
The National Weather Service had issued red flag warnings for most of Los Angeles and Ventura counties over the weekend because of the dry Santa Ana winds, which blow desert air toward the Pacific coast. The warning alerts area residents and firefighters that conditions are ideal for rapidly spreading wildfires.
Cal Fire has 4,700 full-time firefighters and foresters who are aided by another 8,700 seasonal and local workers. The state also uses prisoners to fight wildfires. The Corrections Department said 82 crews, consisting of 1,093 inmates and 97 guards, were assisting in battling 14 fires across the state.
“We have already seen a big increase in the number of fires that normally occur at this time of year, and summer hasn’t yet arrived,” Mark Ghilarducci, secretary of the California Emergency Management Agency, said in a statement.
Colorado Fires
Large wildfires aren’t limited to California. Colorado suffered its most destructive fire season last year, with dozens of blazes fueled by drought-ravaged grass and beetle-killed timber. Flames destroyed at least 600 homes and charred more than 116,000 acres. Damage was estimated at more than $450 million, with the Waldo Canyon blaze, which consumed entire neighborhoods in the foothills around Colorado Springs, becoming the most expensive fire in state history.
More than 153,000 acres have burned across the U.S. this year, though that’s half how much were scorched during the same period in 2012, according to the National Interagency Fire Center out of Boise, Idaho.
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Chicken Skinner
Trad climber
Yosemite
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Aug 23, 2013 - 01:56am PT
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I took this today at around 4.40pm. It was the largest and Easternmost of the three columns that I could see. I have seen some gnarly fires over the years and this appears to be one of the worst I have seen.
Ken
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
Nothing creative to say
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Aug 23, 2013 - 02:31am PT
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my gawd that's huge
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Chicken Skinner
Trad climber
Yosemite
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Aug 23, 2013 - 02:44am PT
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Yes, it is huge and moving fast. That was the hottest spot and only part of the whole fire. Here are some others taken at the same time to give some perspective.
Ken
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Ward Trotter
Trad climber
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Aug 23, 2013 - 02:51am PT
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Looks like the wind has already shifted around to the SW. The separated red areas to the NE sometimes indicate wind blown hot spots.
This beast just keeps looking epochal
Sure would be cool if some rain fell. Not in the forecast. Although by Sat. the wind is backing off a bit. It will also be just a tad cooler Sun and Mon. We'll take what we can get.
12:30 am update
Man those western and NW flanks look scary getting close to Groveland.
My guess is that they are concentrating resources there and backing off the NE flank, relatively speaking.
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Blakey
Trad climber
Sierra Vista
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Aug 23, 2013 - 03:20am PT
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This looks grim,
We are recently back from a trip to the valley, in late June. Our accommodation was a rented cabin at Buck Meadows and we commuted into the Valley and Meadows.
In the face of the devastation this brings I hope all are OK - or at least safe.
Steve
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Aug 23, 2013 - 03:53am PT
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Edit:
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Dr.Sprock
Boulder climber
I'm James Brown, Bi-atch!
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Aug 23, 2013 - 06:19am PT
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where is that paraglider dude?
bet he could set a new record,
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Bad Climber
climber
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Aug 23, 2013 - 09:04am PT
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Damn, that's scary! Keep safe fire fighters!
BAd
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feralfae
Boulder climber
Montana
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Aug 23, 2013 - 09:31am PT
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Neebs,
Did you hear from your brother yet?
How are things?
I got your email, but wanted to post here to let you know I am watching and concerned
Things are quiet out here along the Divide in Montana right now. I'm heading down to the Winds soon.
Everyone take care out there in YNP, hope the fire on both sides of 120 is out by now, or almost out. At least controlled. Anything that is progress. I remember when the Bitterroot burned out here, and the smoke columns and billowing of smoke was not a fierce looking as you have out there in YNP right now. G*d keep you all safe.
Neebs, I'll email you in a while when I get back from coffee and breakfast with friends from Sweden, who are cycling through today on their way to Kamloops.
Mouse, you and everyone out there take care. I hope you get lots of rain any minute. You guys are in my prayers. Take care. Be safe.
Neebs, much Love and fairy dustings for you.
feralfae
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ruppell
climber
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Aug 23, 2013 - 09:56am PT
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Yikes. If that info is accurate that's a 50% increase in size in less than 12 hours. Epic.
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klk
Trad climber
cali
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Aug 23, 2013 - 12:13pm PT
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this is really bad--
if i lived in san francisco, i'd be stockpiling water. heth hetchy looks likely to burn, and no one knows if the system will be fully operational after. and everyone who lives over on the nearby 108 corridor ought to be prepared to bail on a moment's notice.
it now has a clear run up the canyon to tuolumne city, and give the way it's spotting now, that means that even phoenix lake and twain harte could become threatened in the next few days. i don't think it's likely, but we're entering a world in which no one can reliably model this fire's behavior.
this is not just another seasonal sierra fire.
this report gives a fairly current overview of the literature:
http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_gtr854.pdf
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