How to Track the Waldo Canyon Fire [UPDATED]
–NEW MAP AT TOP OF POST–
Compare this to the map at the bottom of the post. Crap.
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Reader Jerry left a link to Weather Underground’s Wunder Map. There are all kinds of overlays you can play with, but the one I have here is the one labeled “Fire.”
The smoke overlay comes with the fire, so to speak — which obscures most of the map and, I think, reduces its practicality. Although it certainly packs an emotional punch.
I don’t need to point out the fire to you, but if you’ll look at the smoke in the top-right corner, I’m right around the “83″ temperature pin.
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I zoomed in on the fire, took a screencap, and then messed with the exposure so you can “see” through the smoke a bit better.
The fire is mostly on the northeast ridge of the canyon, between westbound Highway 24 and Ormes Peak. 24 is dotted with small towns going west. Eastbound? Manitou Springs and then Colorado Springs. From this map, the fire appears to have crested (or nearly crested) the ridge above the Garden of the Gods park. There’s really nothing in the way of choke points or firebreaks between Garden of the Gods and the western part of town.
If you look very closely, you might notice that that ridge is a neighborhood (a rather nice one), and that the fire is right up against its western edge.
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Thanks to tips from John Ki and JohnO, I’ve made the map much more readable. Click the link and play around with it yourself.
The “Wundermap” is pretty slow and clunky. To get better performance, get rid of everything BUT fire; the screen shot above also has wind and temperature. Once the fire is up, you can get rid of the smoke. You have a choice of imagery – that’s fun to play with, but it helps to dial down the Fire Perimeter density, so you can see roads, etc. through it. With the aerial photos selected, you can drill down and see individual houses – if they’re inside the peremeter, they’re probably gone. Bear in mind the data isn real time – peremeters are usually updated after overnight IR flights. Also, the flame symbols can be misleading – often they are displaced 1-2 miles downwind from the actual site of burning. IR is pretty low-resolution. Afternoon views are more informative – the fires have kicked up by then, and updates are more likely to be in place.
Dr. John – Fire Ecologist
I’m guessing that the “cloud” cover that appears to be showing up on radar is just the smoke. Although if the weather changes a bit, and the humidity cranks up some, then real clouds will start to form off of the smoke particles. I’ve seen lightning strikes out of big smoke cloud formations. Kinda surreal, that.
Cal Fire is reporting that the OV-10 Broncos and the P3′s have been sent to Colorado to help fight the fire. You should also see the DC10 tanker in the air in your area as well. I havent heard anything about the Martin Mars Fire Bombers from Coulson but I have to assume they are on their way.
Good luck.
The Number One Problem with using tankers to fight a fire like this is the winds. If they’re too strong, the planes will be grounded. Especially if the terrain is rough. Negotiating the drafts in the canyons can be deadly.
Unless the winds die down significantly, this is primarily a ground game.
Oh. And the updated map sucks rocks. That’s a huge leap.
Are you seeing any ash falls yet?
Just took the dog out. No ash.