Painted Cave Fire 29th Anniversary

Earlier this evening marked the 29th anniversary of the Painted Cave Fire in Santa Barbara County. Unusually powerful Sundowner winds (hurricane force winds + 109° F by 7 p.m.) combined with the evil in men's hearts to create a firestorm which killed one woman and destroyed 427 buildings and scorched 4,900 acres. Above is a 25th anniversary segment on the local TV news station that aired in 2015.

Canyon Fire Entrapment

I quite distinctly remember the Canyon Fire on the post of Vandenberg AFB last year for a number of reasons. These reasons include the fact it started and largely burned in Honda Canyon, the namesake of another fire there in 1977 which, driven by Santa Ana Winds, killed four people including the base commander and base fire chief. Read more about it HERE. I also remember last year's fire because it delayed the launch of  WorldView-4 earth observation satellite from the base's space launch complex. I also remember it for the fact it seemed to generate some of the most awesometacular pyrocumulus clouds seen on a wildfire on the Central Coast since the 1993 Marre Fire which also featured a firefighter entrapment incident sans casualties. There was even a memorable fire-related but not fire-caused fatality as Ventura County Fire Department engineer Ryan Osler was killed in the rollover of a VCFD water tender en route to the fire traveling on Highway 246 near Lompoc, CA. However, I only vaguely remember there was an entrapment situation on the Canyon Fire last year which caused some injuries but no deaths but was certainly a close call. Today I noticed a link to this on Twitter which appears to have been published a few weeks ago. This short video makes for a quite compelling post-incident analysis with some rather dramatic wildfire videography.

Graphic of the Day - Stats For An Early Fire Season

All that rain in December through February which spurred tremendous growth of flashy fuels like grass, disappeared in March for much of the state, leading to an ongoing early drying out of such luxuriant growth. That means one thing: early onset of an active fire season in the lower elevations of the bottom half of the state. Just yesterday, via my scanner, I heard the first (for me) grass fire dispatch of 2017 when Fresno-Kings Unit of CAL FIRE responded to the Derrick Incident on the west side of Coalinga, CA, for a grass fire in the oil fields.... and so it begins. Already in the North County of San Luis Obispo County, the south aspects of many a grassy hill or mountainside have begun to turn brown and it is only early April.

Streaming Pyrocumulus in Oz

Above: Here is a view from orbit (Landsat-8) of the wind-driven 30,000-acre Cocklebiddy wildfire in Western Australia's Nuytsland Nature Reserve featuring some rather spectacular pyrocumulus clouds. Image courtesy of NASA. For more on this image go HERE.

Below: Here is a thermal infrared image of the same scene from the same source.
(Updated 12/09/16)

Picture of the Day - The King From The Presidio

Laine Martens captured this wonderful image of the Rey Fire from in front of the Presidio of Santa Barbara which I'm ashamed to admit I had not even heard of until I saw this image. Note the impressive pyrocumulus clouds over the main convection column of the smoke updraft. Ms. Martens retains all rights. 

Three Shots Of Same Pyrocumulus

Earlier today at about 2 p.m. the Chimney Fire experienced a wind shift and exploded across the open country southwest and adjacent to Lake Nacimiento. Below are three images of the resulting pyrocumulus cloud that was generated over the convection column. In the fire business they refer to it as "capping out."

Taken from Heart Castle by Aja Elaine (all rights reserved).

Taken from San Simeon by Mark Powell (all rights reserved).

Taken from hills behind Cambria by Joan Schleicher (all rights reserved).

Graphic of the Day - Climate Changed WX Map

I grabbed this off of the NOAA-NWS main webpage tonight because it so struck me in both its oddness and how often this oddness happens nowadays that used not to not that very long ago. This is a few days into an El Niño Spring and look how weird is this weather pattern! For weeks there has been late winter wildfire problem in the middle part of the nation which is Red Flag Warned (high fire danger) in darker pink. Facing it is a line of duller-pink-marked Winter Storm Warnings (snow and wind, etc.) approaching from the north which is more seasonable weather but it is not seasonable for these two very different types of weather to be so near to one another and especially this early in the year. A new normal appears to be establishing itself year to year now. Image courtesy of NOAA/NWS (all rights reserved).

California Lightning Strikes (4/23-4/24/15)

This development is a bit ominous given how dry the fuel conditions are across the state as a result of the ongoing historic drought.

Rocky Mountain Whirlwind ~ Firewhirl

I have thoroughly enjoyed this video sequence since I first watched it earlier this year. However, I did not share it here as I have been waiting for a version of it that met my standards. That is to say, what has been out there has either been the extended version accompanied by obnoxious and inappropriate music or too short-assed versions or versions with poorer video definition. I give up: this is the best I can find and I no longer wish to wait. Therefore, here you go: the best version I can find in the context of my standards. Please pardon the poor video quality.

Eiler Fire Tornado

I was blown away seeing this for the first just a short time ago thanks to new Twitter follower Kelli Myers. As those of you know who follow this blog I have a special thing for fire tornados for which there is other great footage on this blog such as HERE. Anywho, enjoy this short video from the Eiler Fire filmed on August 2, 2014, from near Hat Creek, CA, which now, two days later, is still raging out of control in eastern Shasta County on the Lassen National Forest near the Lassen Volcanic National Park. An image of this same fire on July 31st or August 1st which with an extinct volcano (Burney Mountain) in front of it made it appear the mountain was erupting was discussed on this blog a couple of days ago and can be viewed HERE. 

Morgan Fire Vortex

When I first saw this image of the Morgan Fire burning dramatically atop Mount Diablo from day before yesterday I knew immediately what it was. However, I did not expect to see such a thing coming from this particular incident. It seemed slightly oddly coincidental that it should occur not 200 miles away from me not a month following my Fire Tornados ≠ Fire Whirls! column just over two weeks ago. This vortex clearly involves not only the fire at the surface but also the smoke headed up the rotating convection column. However, it is worth noting this is not the sort of fire & smoke vortex generated by a pyrocumulonimbus cloud such as is discussed in that previous posting here. Photo by Matt Granz (all rights reserved).