Alaska fire in near Provo Utah

The Alaska fire gave us a little worry around midnight when we could see the flames from out bedroom window. Fortunately the fire has spread uphill and has been hindered by the rain. I spent a good chunk of time watching the helicopter dump water and the tanker drop retardant on the fire. It has been an interesting day.

My pictures are below but you might enjoy more the photos in this blog: https://wildfiretoday.com/2019/07/31/another-fire-burns-in-the-hills-above-springville-utah/

Coal Hollow Fire

The Coal Hollow fire, 10 minutes up Spanish Fork Canyon, was started by lightning on August 4th and has burned over 6,000 acres.

The plume of smoke and a pyrocumulus cloud has been visible for the last few days.

The smoke and fire temperature shows well in GOES-16 observations:

The air quality in Spanish Fork this morning (August 9, 2018) is extremely bad. I ride the train with
my dad and he had a hint smelled of smoke on his clothes.

The Red Narrows weather station up Spanish Fork Canyon shows the shift in wind down the canyon last night.

And here are the winds at UKBKB (EW2355)

Deer Creek Fire: Smoke and Ozone

A fire up Provo Canyon near Deer Creek Reservoir has burned over 600 acres and, as of this morning, is only 5% contained. Fires up canyons are dangerous to firefighters because canyon winds can change direction and spread the fire rapidly. Read the KSL story here.

Yesterday I drove up the canyon to measure ozone concentrations. Ozone at the bottom of the canyon was low, in the 40s ppb. Near the fire the ozone concentration was elevated with a max concentration of 64 ppb. Wildfires is one source of ground level ozone (review article here).

Smoke plume seen from MODIS Terra satellite

Smoke plume seen from MODIS Aqua satellite later that day.