This past Monday, as I was driving to the airport to pick up Andy, I noticed the plumes of a wildfire. What worried me was the size and proximity to the front range. It looked like it was just on the eastern edge of the foothills and somewhere north of Eldorado Canyon – which put it awfully close to Boulder.
As I sat in the waiting lot of the airport, the plume of smoke started to approach DIA. The winds were harsh enough to rock me in my car. Which, as a side note, happened the last time I picked up Andy at the airport – not a pleasant landing!.
Here’s a picture of the fire by the time we got back home:
On that Monday, winds were 35 mph with gusts up to 45 mph. Humidity was an incredible skin-cracking low of 2%. It was no surprise that this fire exploded like it did. The winds kept the slurry planes grounded on that first important day.
This fire has been in the news across the country this week, so many of you may have already seen and heard the details. Last I read over 170 homes are gone. So sad.
This week raised a couple of questions for us “newbies” to the state:
* What happens when humidity drops to 0%?
* How can such a small amount of rain (0.08”) one day be considered a help to the firefighters?
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