Two NorCal Wildfire Images

Today Northern California's Ponderosa Fire exploded sending firefighters scrambling to safety zones as running crown fires ran through heavy fuels of forest and brush. The nearby Chips Fire also blew up this afternoon with its head jumping containment lines and barreling on eastward. A bit to the southwest the Pass Fires (two lightning-caused fires) blew up disgorging a huge amount of smoke as well.

Snapshot taken from the Caltrans Shingletown webcam showing the view east from Highway 44 at Emigrant Trail/Wilson Hill Road. Note smoke columns from the Ponderosa Fire indicate leading fire front is close to the highway at time of image. Image courtesy of Caltrans.

Satellite image late today showing the smoke of the Ponderosa Fire in southeastern Shasta County and northeastern Tehama County. Note the smoke with visible pyrocumulus cloud coming off of the Chips Fire in Plumas County. Note the smoke coming off of the Pass Fires with visible pyrocumulus cloud in the northeast corner of Mendocino County.  Note monsoonal convection over the Sierra Nevada and western Great Basin. Image courtesy of NOAA.