Above: The Berry Fire crosses Highway 89, September 11, 2016. InciWeb photo.
(Originally published at 10:59 a.m. MDT September 12, 2016. Updated at 1:50 a.m. MDT September 14, 2016.)
On September 11 winds gusting up to 35 mph on Sunday pushed the Berry Fire which had been relatively quiet for the last week, across Highway 89 for a second time, closing the south entrance into Yellowstone National Park.
The fire ran for about six miles toward the northeast, burning another 6,000 acres, and forced evacuations at the Flagg Ranch, the north entrance station into Grand Teton National Park, and Sheffield Campground on the Bridger-Teton National Forest. An overnight mapping flight determined that the Berry Fire burned very close to the facilities at the Flagg Ranch and appeared to have spread again from the John D. Rockefeller Jr. Memorial Parkway into the Bridger-Teton National Forest and then into Yellowstone National Park.
Highway 89 is closed between Leeks Marina junction on the south and Grant Village in Yellowstone NP on the north side.
Since the fire started July 25 it has been managed but not totally suppressed in order to replicate natural conditions which includes periodic fire. It has now burned 20,801 acres.
Much of the western United States Sunday was under a Red Flag Warning due to dry and windy conditions. During the afternoon the Burro Hill weather station southeast of the fire recorded a high temperature of 75 degrees, 10 percent relative humidity, and west to southwest winds of 9 to 15 mph gusting at 23 to 35 mph. The weather will drastically change on Monday and Tuesday with lower temperatures, higher humidity, and a 30 to 60 percent chance of precipitation.
