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treeswarper
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PostSat Aug 11, 2018 9:10 pm 
There's always something worse. From the OkWen facebook page: Methow Valley: Lightning sparks 20 news fires in Methow Valley; multiple resources responding Acres: Varies from 1/10 to 50 acres Start Date: 08/11/18 Resources: Smokejumpers, air tankers, rapellers, handcrews, engines and dozers Cause: Lightning Current Activity: Firefighters on the Methow Valley Ranger District have confirmed 20 new fires following the recent lightning storm. While most of the fires are less than one acre, crews initially sized up some of the fires at up to 20 acres in size. The fire in the Falls Creek area is currently estimated to be 50 acres in size. Firefighters have already contained three of the fires as of 4:00 pm on Saturday. Fires are in the following areas (some areas had multiple strikes/fires): Lucky Jim Bluff Banker Pass - Contained Near Goat Peak Lookout Short Creek - Contained In the Montana Mine area Up the West Chewuch Above the head of Mack Creek along the Chelan-Sawtooth Ridge Blackpine area Cub Creek Falls Creek - Up to 50 acres Boulder Creek Spanish Camp in the Pasayten Wilderness Along the Pasayten Wilderness boundary a few miles north of the Goat Peak Lookout Of the new lightning caused fires, the one closest to a community is in the Montana Mine area, approximately three air miles from the community of Mazama, WA. It has been staffed with four smoke jumpers since this morning and is estimated to be ¼ acre in size. This continues to be a dynamic situation, with resources addressing the highest priority fires before being re-distributed to others. Fires are staffed with a combination of smokejumpers, rapellers, handcrews, engines and dozers. While smoke did impact visibility during portions of the day, aerial support, including helicopters and a very large airtanker delivering retardant, have been working the fires as conditions allowed. Weather and Fire Behavior: Red flag warning were in effect throughout the day with high winds across the area. On Sunday, smoke is expected to be widespread with northwest wind around six mph. Continued cooler temperatures and higher humidity may restrict fire growth and intensity. However, fire managers are preparing for single to group tree torching with the the potential for rapid fire growth. Evacuations: There are no evacuations at this time. The closest fire is three air miles from Mazama, WA. Closures: For public safety, the area around Goat Peak, 8-Mile and the Upper Chewuch is closed to public entry. A closure map will be issued soon. Photo: Retardant drops, similar to the one shown, were utilized on several of the lightning fires in the Methow Valley on August 11,

What's especially fun about sock puppets is that you can make each one unique and individual, so that they each have special characters. And they don't have to be human––animals and aliens are great possibilities
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Joey
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PostSun Aug 12, 2018 5:38 am 
There was an infrared overflight last night for these two fires. Fire staff determined a new perimeter based on that data. Crescent Mountain fire, aka Gilbert Fire https://mappingsupport.com/p2/gissurfer.php?center=48.404812,-120.490837&zoom=12&basemap=ESRI_scanned_topo_USA&fire=WA,Gilbert Cougar Creek fire https://mappingsupport.com/p2/gissurfer.php?center=47.793540,-120.482254&zoom=12&basemap=ESRI_scanned_topo_USA&fire=WA,cougar_creek

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treeswarper
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PostSun Aug 12, 2018 5:57 am 
An area that had made it through other fire years unscathed now has some fires. Don't know the size, I'm hoping they are just small smokes that can be taken care of quickly. These are east of Tonasket, in the Okanogan Highlands. The power is out around Bonaparte Lake due to a fire. The good thing is that area still has roads and the timber was thinned out pretty good and then burned afterwards. I have fingers and toes crossed, I like to recreate there. No info other than a smoke on Strawberry Mountain and thought I saw something about a fire near Wauconda.

What's especially fun about sock puppets is that you can make each one unique and individual, so that they each have special characters. And they don't have to be human––animals and aliens are great possibilities
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gb
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PostSun Aug 12, 2018 6:18 am 
There is a tiny silver lining on the west slopes of the Olympics and Cascades in many places because the departing system left good rains of an inch or more along the coast and still pretty good rains of up to more than 1/2" especially in the North Cascades. Mt. Baker clearly benefited with the heaviest rain they have had in a long time. Even the Snoqualmie area got .3". The "Maple fire" and the "Miriam fire" look to have gotten about the same amount. It is hard to know near Glacier Peak but that area is in convergence with Everett getting good rains and also got heavy rains a week ago. But drying northerly or northeasterly winds will rapidly evaporate that moisture from forests that have been bone dry. And along the east slopes of the Cascades any rain that fell would have been at most on the order of .1" with maybe a few unrecorded exceptions in heavy thundershowers. The large area of British Columbia that had numerous lightning strikes also did not appear to get much rain. You can look all of this up at NWS Seattle Observations by clicking on Observations, opening the page, hitting Observations>Precipitation>and then selecting the period you want to look at.

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PostSun Aug 12, 2018 6:22 am 
From the BC Wildfire Service Facebook Page: Coming to a place near you soon:
Quote:
BC Wildfire Service 7 hrs · Today, 141 new wildfires started across the province – mostly due to lightning activity. The southern third of the province saw the biggest uptick in new wildfire starts, with 33 new fires in the Coastal Fire Centre, 41 new fires in the Kamloops Fire Centre, and 60 new fires in the Southeast Fire Centre. Provincially, there are currently 586 active wildfires burning at this time. Suffice it to say, today was a busy day across the board for everyone responding to BC’s wildfire situation, whether they were on the frontlines of a fire or working from behind the scenes. For tonight’s sign-off post, we would like to highlight the work of our dispatchers who are integral to facilitating the response to wildfires. They are constantly in communication with crews and aircraft over the radio and help to keep everything running smoothly during times of high fire activity. The dispatchers did an absolutely incredible job today keeping up with the demand. Pictured below is a photo of one of their “command centres” – photo courtesy of the Kamloops Fire Centre. Out of the 41 new fires today in the Kamloops Fire Centre, five are now Under Control, one is Being Held, five have been put out, and 30 remain Out of Control. Today was a team effort, and we thank British Columbians for their support.
Interactive Map of Current BC Wildfires

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moonspots
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PostSun Aug 12, 2018 9:03 am 
treeswarper wrote:
I'm trying to figure out somewhere to go where the air would be cleaner but think that is futile as fires are breaking out all over today.
Here in the Olympa area the sky is clear of smoke, but overcast yesterday and today. When I drove through Packwood Friday, we had just cleared the smoke from a fire near the White Pass area. Significant smoke all the way from eastern or central Montana to there.

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PostSun Aug 12, 2018 9:36 am 
^ From the satellite images and the DOT webcams it looks like the entire western side of the state is overcast right now. There was significant enough precipitation on the west side of the Olympics yesterday to cause a rise in river levels, although they are already starting to drop; meaning that the system is blowing through already. Whether or not the air on this side of the Cascades remains clear for more than a day or two remains to be seen.

"I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach. I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each."
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Cyclopath
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PostSun Aug 12, 2018 10:14 am 
treeswarper wrote:
The Okanogan Valley has been pretty bad today also. It's a bit less now, but I am coughing from it. The wind blew pretty good and now it is a bit cooler. 80 something is way better than 100 something. I'm trying to figure out somewhere to go where the air would be cleaner but think that is futile as fires are breaking out all over today. A house that burned on the fourth of July rekindled today!
Last year the air in Seattle was terrible. So far this year it hasn't been bad. There's been a lot of smoke above us and you can see it at sunrise and sunset, but at ground level, the stuff we're breathing, it's pretty clear.

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treeswarper
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PostSun Aug 12, 2018 10:36 am 
It was semi-smoky this morning, the real sky could be seen. The report said moderate. Yesterday was unhealthy with some ash mixed in with the smoke. This is the last day of the Omak Stampede and hundreds of visitors and participants have been camping out in the smoke. Guess I'll go cut the grass.

What's especially fun about sock puppets is that you can make each one unique and individual, so that they each have special characters. And they don't have to be human––animals and aliens are great possibilities
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gb
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PostSun Aug 12, 2018 3:15 pm 
Well lucky us. rolleyes.gif rolleyes.gif Isn't smoke from British Columbia sweeter smelling than California smoke? What we have now is not high overcast but high based Canadian smoke according to the Canada smoke forecast and NWS visible satellite animation. There is a big circulation counterclockwise over southern BC which may even draw in Idaho and EasternWashington/Oregon smoke which blends with SE BC smoke. The whole mess then rotates north and west to Prince George and picks up a whole slew more smoke and then it drops south to Vancouver - they really should let more water flow to the ocean! - and finally to pretty much dominate the Cascades and Olympics. Yippee! By tomorrow initially much thicker smoke invades starting north; by late in the day we also share with our neighbors from Twisp as lower elevation flow turns offshore. Probably gets better for a day or two Late Wednesday or Thursday but only for a couple of days. I'm hiking near Rainier tomorrow, not North Cascades, but just expect less dense smoke, especially early in the day.

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wildernessed
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PostMon Aug 13, 2018 6:21 am 
McLeod Fire started 8/11 due to lightning strikes.

Living in the Anthropocene
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Joey
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PostMon Aug 13, 2018 7:15 am 
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treeswarper
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PostMon Aug 13, 2018 9:16 am 
The air quality is ranked as Unhealthy here today.

What's especially fun about sock puppets is that you can make each one unique and individual, so that they each have special characters. And they don't have to be human––animals and aliens are great possibilities
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Fletcher
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PostMon Aug 13, 2018 9:38 am 
Can it just be October already?

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Jake Robinson
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PostMon Aug 13, 2018 10:20 am 
Scott Sistek this morning on the smoke situation:
Quote:
The little bit rain that dotted the area Saturday was nice to clean the air and wet the ground a bit after a long, hot dry stretch, but ironically now that storm has contributed to a return of the wildfire smoke this week. A thick, milky brown haze was back over Seattle Monday morning as northerly winds aloft from the wake of Saturday's storm now import in a thick layer of wildfire smoke from fires burning in British Columbia. Much like the smoke that blew in from California last week, this smoke is fairly high in the atmosphere, leaving the air quality near the ground in good condition, but that is expected to change later Monday afternoon. That's because the winds near the ground are expected to veer to an easterly direction, which will blow in some smoke near the ground from fires burning in central and eastern Washington. Thus we do expect air quality to gradually degrade through the day with smoky air hanging around through the middle of the week. By then, upper air winds will begin to shift over Oregon as a hot ridge of high pressure rebuilds, pushing California wildfire smoke back north into the Pacific Northwest, where it will combine with the B.C. smoke already here. By Tuesday, forecast charts show the entire Pacific Northwest -- and even the Intermountain West -- will be covered in varying thickness of wildfire smoke. If air quality degrades and wildfire smoke becomes present at lower levels, officials suggest those sensitive to air quality, including those with heart or lung disease, diabetes, children, pregnant women and people over 65 should limit their outdoor exposure and keep any air conditioned homes on recirculate until the air quality improves. We may see some slight improvement toward the end of the week as a weak trough of low pressure will trigger a marine push and bring in some cleaner ocean air, especially near the ground, but long range forecasts suggest at least the upper air smoke may be a factor back into the following weekend. About the only silver lining is that the haze will knock about 3-5 degrees off the heat that would be around 90 for Tuesday and Wednesday had there been clear skies.

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