JoMo Posted June 27, 2012 Share Posted June 27, 2012 Dry thunderstorm outflow winds are bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brettjrob Posted June 27, 2012 Share Posted June 27, 2012 Ouch -- when I checked about 90 minutes ago, all the live shots seemed to show the worst of it confined to foothills that only had widely-scattered homes. Looks like the situation has deteriorated... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Posted June 27, 2012 Share Posted June 27, 2012 hard to think it won't still be confined to the edges but once you get a large area of fire within communities it can become even more tricky to control. dunno anything about how the town is laid out... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icebreaker5221 Posted June 27, 2012 Share Posted June 27, 2012 Looking up at the fire here in Boulder county, it appears that the worst of is confined to this highest parts of Bear Peak and not really advancing anymore. The situation in Colorado Springs on the other hand looks bad. If there is some good news, it looks to be a bit cooler (if you can call mid-90s cooler) tomorrow and more humid. Hopefully we won't see any more dry thunderstorms like we did today! This was as close as I was willing to get personally (Chautauqua Park): Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brettjrob Posted June 27, 2012 Share Posted June 27, 2012 Just to clarify, that shot I posted was from COS, not the Boulder/Flagstaff fire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoMo Posted June 27, 2012 Share Posted June 27, 2012 They extended it even farther South and east Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Posted June 27, 2012 Share Posted June 27, 2012 Just to clarify, that shot I posted was from COS, not the Boulder/Flagstaff fire. Yeah it's been making the rounds. Good media shot. Press conference indicated it's still a relatively small area of the city impacted so far. Hard to see it get much into the city but who knows.. History not always best judge. Claims of worst fire images ever by some on social media.. Memories are short these days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tornadotony Posted June 27, 2012 Share Posted June 27, 2012 Yeah it's been making the rounds. Good media shot. Press conference indicated it's still a relatively small area of the city impacted so far. Hard to see it get much into the city but who knows.. History not always best judge. Claims of worst fire images ever by some on social media.. Memories are short these days. Colorado Springs is the sad epitome of unchecked sprawl. It's a city of 500,000 people. When you come over one of the hills on US 24 from the east to look into the city, all you see are square miles of slapped-together, sprawling subdivisions. Thousands of homes as far as the eye can see. There is very little space between homes in many of the subdivisions as land is at a premium, with the city sitting in the otherwise scenic foothills. Much of the city is like that, on all sides. I want to agree with you that it would be hard to imagine the fire going so far into the city. But with the amazing drought/record temps combined with the construction practices of the city, it's a recipe for a very substantial disaster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vandy Posted June 27, 2012 Share Posted June 27, 2012 Colorado Springs is the sad epitome of unchecked sprawl. It's a city of 500,000 people. When you come over one of the hills on US 24 from the east to look into the city, all you see are square miles of slapped-together, sprawling subdivisions. Thousands of homes as far as the eye can see. There is very little space between homes in many of the subdivisions as land is at a premium, with the city sitting in the otherwise scenic foothills. Much of the city is like that, on all sides. I want to agree with you that it would be hard to imagine the fire going so far into the city. But with the amazing drought/record temps combined with the construction practices of the city, it's a recipe for a very substantial disaster. I agree. I don't want to get into an urban planning debate right now, but Boulder County is being saved by its open space initiatives at the moment. That idea is pretty much absent in the Springs. Here's a picture of the fire on the backside of Bear Peak earlier today from CU campus. As of one hour ago there were some spot fires along the ridge line, but the fire hasn't crested to the east side of the foothills yet and hopefully wont with an expected easterly wind tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marsman Posted June 27, 2012 Share Posted June 27, 2012 In addition to the wind the afternoon thunderstorms may bring, there's this too: ... Flood Watch remains in effect from this afternoon through this evening... The Flood Watch continues for * El Paso and Teller counties and the Rampart Range. * From late this afternoon through this evening. * Rainfall capable of producing flash flooding will be possible across the Waldo burn scar region late this afternoon and evening. * Areas with the most serious flash flood potential include Manitou Springs and old Colorado City... especially below the Williams Creek and Waldo creek drainages. Precautionary/preparedness actions... A Flood Watch means there is a potential for flooding based or current forecasts. You should monitor later forecasts and be alert for possible flood warnings. Those living in areas prone to flooding should be prepared to take action should flooding develop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Posted June 27, 2012 Share Posted June 27, 2012 Colorado Springs is the sad epitome of unchecked sprawl. It's a city of 500,000 people. When you come over one of the hills on US 24 from the east to look into the city, all you see are square miles of slapped-together, sprawling subdivisions. Thousands of homes as far as the eye can see. There is very little space between homes in many of the subdivisions as land is at a premium, with the city sitting in the otherwise scenic foothills. Much of the city is like that, on all sides. I want to agree with you that it would be hard to imagine the fire going so far into the city. But with the amazing drought/record temps combined with the construction practices of the city, it's a recipe for a very substantial disaster. Regardless, wildland fires don't burn into cities that easily. In no small part thanks to the very good firefighters in this country. Based on burn maps a very small part of the city has been impacted and it's the areas you'd most expect in a fire. http://www.markspeterson.com/Maps/Waldo_Canyon_Fire.html With tile or coated roofs sprawl is not necessarily a bad thing. Most of the worst firestorms happen in places surrounded by hills etc. Images from San Diego in 2007 looked as bad or worse, as have many fires in places like Malibu etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MAG5035 Posted June 27, 2012 Share Posted June 27, 2012 Looks like some potential good news for the people in Colorado Springs. The last couple radar frames have some thunderstorms popping up right in/around town. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chinook Posted June 27, 2012 Author Share Posted June 27, 2012 Looks like there has been some rain over the High Park Fire. By my estimation, almost no rain has ever fallen over the High Park Fire until now. Most of the fire growth activity of the High Park Fire recently has been far west. The fire went across the Poudre Canyon over the weekend, I think. It bumped up from 65000 to 83000 acres over the weekend. We had a few minutes of rain in Fort Collins again. Yesterday we had around 0.01". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CO SciFan Posted June 27, 2012 Share Posted June 27, 2012 Apparently winds are massively picking up at the Waldo Canyon Fire again. On 7 News they are showing what look to be 50 mph+ outflow gusts blowing the fire east again. Sure hope it's not a repeat of yesterday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thewxmann Posted June 27, 2012 Share Posted June 27, 2012 Yeah it's been making the rounds. Good media shot. Press conference indicated it's still a relatively small area of the city impacted so far. Hard to see it get much into the city but who knows.. History not always best judge. Claims of worst fire images ever by some on social media.. Memories are short these days. Having lived through both the 2003 and 2007 fires in San Diego, I will agree with the statement that memories are short these days. For instance, the Cedar Fire burned almost 300,000 acres and crossed a 16-lane freeway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mayjawintastawm Posted June 27, 2012 Share Posted June 27, 2012 Flash flood warning right over the High Park fire now. Radar estimates over an inch of rain the past couple hours. Wow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Posted June 27, 2012 Share Posted June 27, 2012 Having lived through both the 2003 and 2007 fires in San Diego, I will agree with the statement that memories are short these days. For instance, the Cedar Fire burned almost 300,000 acres and crossed a 16-lane freeway. Shoot even just last yr the fires in Texas. I guess you didn't get quite the same visuals sans ravines and houses right in front. Not to lessen the fact that it sucks if dozens or hundreds of homes went up etc. But.. there was lots of "omg the 41st largest city in the u.s. is burning to the ground". Near perfect conditions for a firestorm and I'm sure scary as **** for locals.. but the risks you take living in a dry climate in or next to the hills. The real story in these things is how good our wildland firefighters are in most cases. Given the propensity for people to live in 'unsafe' areas you'd think towns would burn up more often. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snownut Posted June 28, 2012 Share Posted June 28, 2012 I am seriously considering moving to Bend OR and wonder what the fire threat is there? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boulderrr Posted June 28, 2012 Share Posted June 28, 2012 Yeah, looks similar from the main campus. Mesa Lab is showing W-NW winds at the moment, so that's a good sign for your house (though bad for OSMP!) Unrelated question... do you work at Sybase? I'm in the same building where Sybase used to be located. They actually moved out several months back and LASP moved in downstairs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CO SciFan Posted June 28, 2012 Share Posted June 28, 2012 Shoot even just last yr the fires in Texas. I guess you didn't get quite the same visuals sans ravines and houses right in front. Not to lessen the fact that it sucks if dozens or hundreds of homes went up etc. But.. there was lots of "omg the 41st largest city in the u.s. is burning to the ground". Near perfect conditions for a firestorm and I'm sure scary as **** for locals.. but the risks you take living in a dry climate in or next to the hills. The real story in these things is how good our wildland firefighters are in most cases. Given the propensity for people to live in 'unsafe' areas you'd think towns would burn up more often. The firefighters really are amazing and granted the Cedar Fire was far scarier but that's sort of like looking at a Cat 3 vs a Cat 5. Both are freaking scary. In the nearly 100,000 acre High Park Fire, Colorado has a new most destructive wildfire in our history with over 250 homes destroyed (and second largest by size) -- but that record may have been eclipsed when the Waldo Canyon Fire came into a CO Springs subdivision of 1700 homes and probably burned a good 200-300 of them (assessments ongoing). So for Colorado at least, these are absolutely terrifying historic fires even though they don't compare to Santa Ana Winds-stoked southern Cali fires or some of the ones we've seen in Australia and elsewhere (Russia springs to mind). There's always a more destructive fire, but this year (for our area) has been a terrible fire year with new fires breaking out seemingly every day and the count of torched homes looks to be headed to above 500 statewide potentially. And yes I'm glad it isn't even worse and realize with the fuels still in our forests even larger fires may be on the way in the future. Edited to add a link to this great account of the 1910 Idaho Fire, talk about scary! Then, on Saturday afternoon, August 20, all hell broke lose.Hurricane-force winds, unlike anything seen since, roared across the rolling Palouse country of eastern Washington and on into Idaho and Montana forests so dry they crackled underfoot In a matter of hours, fires became firestorms, and trees by the millions became exploding candles. Millions more, sucked from the ground, roots and all, became flying blowtorches. It was dark by four in the afternoon, save for wind-powered fireballs that rolled from ridgetop to ridgetop at seventy miles an hour. They leaped canyons a half-mile wide in one fluid motion. Entire mountainsides ignited in an instant It was like nothing anyone had ever seen before.By noon on the twenty-first, daylight was dark as far north as Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, as far south as Denver, and as far east as Watertown, New York. To the west, the sky was so filled with smoke, ships 500 miles at sea could not navigate by the stars. During one of the worst S. Cali years we did get enough smoke here in CO to turn the setting sun red, but it sure didn't get dark here. Unreal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boulderrr Posted June 28, 2012 Share Posted June 28, 2012 It's raining pretty good on the Boulder fire again right now... Looks like the Springs and Fort Collins ones may get a bit too... Keep doing those rain dances! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chinook Posted June 28, 2012 Author Share Posted June 28, 2012 We have gotten some rain over a couple sections of the High Park Fire and also the reservoir. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vandy Posted June 28, 2012 Share Posted June 28, 2012 It's nice to have a monsoonal day again. Sadly it looks like the death ridge is going to cutoff the moisture flow again soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boulderrr Posted June 28, 2012 Share Posted June 28, 2012 Another tiny fire just started between the 1st and 2nd flatiron from lightning. They're on it per the scanner... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vandy Posted June 28, 2012 Share Posted June 28, 2012 Another tiny fire just started between the 1st and 2nd flatiron from lightning. They're on it per the scanner... I see a small plume between the 2nd and 3rd but nothing between 1 and 2. Hopefully that is what they were referring two and there aren't two starts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brettjrob Posted June 28, 2012 Share Posted June 28, 2012 Via the Denver Post, over 300 homes burned to the ground in COS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icebreaker5221 Posted June 29, 2012 Share Posted June 29, 2012 Via the Denver Post, over 300 homes burned to the ground in COS. Truly devastating. There's really nothing left! It's nice to have a monsoonal day again. Sadly it looks like the death ridge is going to cutoff the moisture flow again soon. This moisture has been great! Not only for putting out fires and recovering the water table, but it's also made the late evening more comfortable than it's been in weeks! I'm not sure my outlook would be quite as grim as yours. While the ridge will rebuild into the central and high plains, it looks like a weakness in the ridge will remain over NM / AZ for at least the next 5 days with moist easterly flow off the Gulf. I would expect most of the storms to be to our south, but wouldn't be surprised if we got some occasional showers out of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chinook Posted June 29, 2012 Author Share Posted June 29, 2012 Here are the FTG radar-estimated rain totals the past two days. I think the High Park Fire got 0.1" to 0.6" on both days, and Fort Collins had sprinkles to 0.25" on both days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mayjawintastawm Posted June 29, 2012 Share Posted June 29, 2012 Excellent news for the fires at least north of Denver. Now we can go back to complaining about how hot and dry it is in the Metro area... would be nice to have some monsoons everywhere. No rain at KDEN since 6/7. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chinook Posted June 30, 2012 Author Share Posted June 30, 2012 Fort Collins CSU 6/22: 97 6/23: 100 6/24: 101 6/25: 102 6/26: 98 6/27: 94 6/28: 93 6/29: 96 Fort Collins Loveland Airport 6/22 100 6/23 102 6/24 104 6/25 102 6/26 102 6/27 97 6/28 97 6/29 97 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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