UPDATE: Map removed due to 9News site problems. See the entry above for my own map.
The Hayman Fire (a/k/a the Lake George fire) is the latest fire to hit Colorado. According to the web site, “smoke and ash from the blaze could be seen in south metro Denver and Castle Rock.”
Seen? Try 1-3 mile visibility, ash everywhere, smoke stench in the air, and Margie (who has an atavistic aversion to wildfires) climbing the walls.
(This is not to be confused with the Glenwood Springs fire, a/k/a the Coal Seam Fire, which is both on the surface and in, apparently, underground coal seams. That started yesterday, but isn’t smoking us out)
The whole area is covered with a smoky haze, casting everything in a sickly yellow light, and giving us what looks like the world’s worst First Stage Smog Alert. Bleah. Strong winds from the southwest are (a) hampering firefighting, (b) blowing it into Pike National Forest, and (c) blowing all the smoke in our direction.
I was surprised to find that “Smoke” is an Official Weather Condition (and to see little curlycues of smoke on my WeatherPixie graphic to the left).
UPDATE: More coverage finally coming on-line. ABC 7 has a good story.
The following pics show the quality (and color) of the air in our area, and a satellite shot (click for larger image) showing the smoke plume crossing us and going all the way up to Wyoming.
We are not, by the way, in any danger. The fire would have to run about thirty or forty miles to get to us. But the smoke is certainly having an impact. *cough*
In Aurora I caught myself starting to look up for the big sodium light that had to be 20′ over my head in the middle of the day. Three times. Orange sunlight, very strange. Plus minor ash precipitation.
By the end of the day, we had an amazing amount of ash on the back patio (given that the thing is fifty miles away). And, yes, the sodum vapor lamp impression hit me a few times, too.
Mercifully, this a.m. the smoke trail seems to be further east, leaving us in a slightly less Dantesque setting.
I hope that gets cleared up soon for you guys. It’s pretty scary. My mom said a High School close to them is now a shelter.
Thunder Ridge HS, in Highlands Ranch, is one of the shelters, which is again kinda close for comfort.
We’re getting a few sprinkles this evening, and it’s been cooler (and not as gusty), so I hope that impacts the the fire.