News and opinion about wildland fire
Watch Canadian #smoke get caught in the circulation of a midlatitude cyclone and blown over the N. Atlantic via #GOES16 Geocolor – prelim. pic.twitter.com/oaGFntMUL6
— Dan Lindsey (@DanLindsey77) August 17, 2017
Scientists have tracked smoke plumes that have circumnavigated the Earth multiple times.
Above: satellite photo of fires in Northwest California and Southern Oregon, August 17, 2017.
(Originally published at 11:30 a.m. MDT August 18, 2017)
Wildfires in Northwest California and Southern Oregon were very active on Thursday. Three of the largest fires on the Klamath National Forest in California are the Salmon August Complex (4,418 acres), Eclipse Complex (17,501), and Clear Fire (6,701).
The Ruth and Orleans Complexes on the Six Rivers NF have burned 4,617 and 6,943 acres respectively.
Oregon and Washington have a total of 24 large fires; 15 are being suppressed and 9 are being managed with less than full suppression strategies. Some of the more active fires in Southern Oregon on Thursday were: Chetco Bar (8,500 acres), Miller (4,668), Jones (2,703), Milli (4,565), Umpqua North (3,414), and High Cascades (10,460).
Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories Uncategorized3 Comments on Harrison Ford on fire prevention during the eclipse Harrison Ford narrates this public service announcement about not having an eclipse in judgement.
Weather forecasters just released their three-month outlook for September through November in the United States. If correct, it will be warmer than normal across the entire country and the precipitation will be close to average except in the Southeast where they expect wetter conditions. This could lead to extended Autumn wildfire seasons.
Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories Uncategorized1 Comment on Heavy wildfire smoke in some areas of California, Oregon, and Montana 
Some areas in northwest Montana are seeing heavy concentrations of smoke generated by the local fires that have been burning for several weeks. When the AirNow map above was generated the Air Quality Index (AQI) at Seeley Lake was 433, well into the “Hazardous” category which ranges from 301 to 500. If it exceeds 500 that will be off the scale.
Almost all of the western two-thirds of Montana are at least in the Moderate AQI level and many areas range from Unsafe for Sensitive Groups, to Unhealthy, to Very Unhealthy.
Some locations in Oregon and Northern California are also experiencing air quality and smoke issues.
Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories Uncategorized1 Comment on Dozens of active wildfires in the Northwest U.S. Above: Active wildfires in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Western Montana, and Northern California at 4:18 a.m. MDT August 16, 2017.
(Originally published at 10:21 a.m. MDT August 16, 2017)
Dozens of wildfires are active in the Northwest one-quarter of the United States. Many of them have been burning for several weeks under a limited suppression strategy. The states of Washington and Oregon have a total of 32 large uncontained fires that have spread over 810,171 acres.
At times the area around Missoula has been heavily affected by smoke. Here are some PM 2.5 readings from Wednesday morning:
