After some reports from different sources of tiny bits of rain here and there (Tuesday day/night, maybe some drips Wednesday), the sky was much more our normal and beloved Colorado-blue than we’ve seen in a run of smoky days. Ferris Fire (60,104 acres as of Wednesday night) smoke at left; Babylon Fire (101,073 acres) smoke at right. Looking mostly south.
The fire must have gotten into some new, untouched fuels by evening because by 7 p.m. or later, it was really sending up a plume. That’s Filly Peak in the near background, and you can see a bit how perspective matters: Not only is the fire not directly behind it, it’s not *super* closely behind/south of Disappointment Valley’s south ridges. (I did still see a little line of smoke in the Ryman Creek area a bit later.) Mustang ponies in the middle ground, napping.
This and the above pic toward Filly Peak were taken from the same vantage point: Chrome’s Point in Spring Creek Basin’s far western region (not far from the rimrocked western boundary). This one is looking slightly leftish of Filly Peak and southeast/east. The smoke is fairly faint … a MUCH better sight than we’ve had the last many days.
Those are more clouds than smokedrift, though, of course, there’s still smoke there from Utah’s huge Babylon Fire, now more than 101,000 acres. … Mother Nature is trying to stir up the clouds into delivering rain.
See the pillars of sunset glow at left? I love it when the sun waves goodnight to us like that.
A couple of links to articles I’ve found interesting recently:
Tribute paid to Emily Barker, Nick Hutcherson and Sydney Watson, who died fighting the Snyder Fire. Held in Grand Junction, Colorado. Impossible to imagine the pain of their families and colleagues and friends.
“Monsoon rains are on the horizon,” say the weather wizards, err, experts. We can only hope they’re finally going to be proved right. Some super heat is on tap first.
How some ranchers are coping with the stress of protecting their cattle and grazing lands. This really made me think of the hard-working ranchers I know.
Spring Creek Basin Mustangs 
Your photos are really beautiful today, TJ. Much more blue, more confined smoke, pretty landscapes. I love the pic of Filly Peak with all of its wrinkles! How I hope that monsoon moisture IS on its way. Lots of lightening last night from the lurking clouds but nothing resembling rain. Just even a little more humidity in the air would be so much help for our firefighters.
Thunder rolled across an area north of Spring Creek Basin yesterday for a brief time … no rain. I did hear from a couple of sources that parts of the fire got a little “rain” – not sure how much or where, but it did seem to result in less (MUCH less) of the pervasive and dense smoke. We definitely don’t want lightning!!
Finally. Polis declared the Ferris fire a disaster sometime yesterday. Good – more resources.
Thanks for that update! I’ll include a link with tomorrow’s post.
So glad it’s better over your way!
How is it in your area?