The Carpenter 1 fire west of Las Vegas is winding down, but that was not the case on July 5 when Zak took this photo from the back seat of a helicopter.
Carpenter 1 fire as seen July 5
3 thoughts on “Carpenter 1 fire as seen July 5”
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Hi Bill,
A stunning photograph. I have a few questions and comments…
* Can you confirm that this photo was taken on 5 July and not 4 July? We’re monitoring pyrocumulonimbus (pyroCb) from space and saw a big blowup from Carpenter 1 on 4 July. See this GOES animation made by Scott Bachmeier of U. WI (http://go.wisc.edu/bljox5) Zak’s photo looks like it captured a pyroCb in action. So I’m wondering if we just missed a pyroCb one day later.
What do you make of the hazy stuff on the sunny-side slopes? Is that smoke, fog, something else? If smoke, what’s its source? To my eye it appears to be feeding into the fire but the photo could be deceiving. Your thoughts?
Mike, it was taken on July 5 at 6:51 p.m.
The “hazy stuff on the sunny-side slopes” is smoke from areas that were recently burned. The smoke is either being blown toward the fire by the wind, or is being sucked into the rising smoke column… or both.
Thanks, Bill.
Indeed the photo alerted us to a second pyroCb event at Carpenter 1.