Conditions today should be similar to yesterday with very isolated and mostly dry thunderstorms possible. Smoke is thick in the upper atmosphere due to the Pine Gulch fire near Rifle exploding yesterday. There is not a lot of information making it to the news and the stats that I am hearing are old. We all know how frustrating that can be so I wanted that get the latest information out there.

Late yesterday the fire exploded a pyrocumulus cloud developed with a firestorm that caused countless lighting strikes and ash raining all over that region of the state. Yesterday’s fire growth was “estimated” at over 37,000 acres bringing the total acres burned 125,108.

The fire was so intense that the IR pilot could not fly directly over the area of new growth to the northwest and so it could be less or more than what the interpreter reported.

Today’s convection in our area will likely be determined by how long the smoke stays around. The smoke is not very noticeable at the surface. In fact, even in Grand Junction this morning the smoke is only slightly heavier near the surface than it is here.

Here are the current air quality ratings. Anything over 100 can start to cause some irritation. During the 416 fire, downtown Durango had a few days over 500 notice the scale only goes to 500.

Smoke north

Smoke south

Here is a link to that website

https://www.purpleair.com/map?opt=1/mAQI/a10/cC0#5.82/38.723/-106.196

Thanks for following, if you know people closer to the fire please share this information with them. Tomorrow I will take another look at the weekend and the longer term.

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