Climate Change? Nahhh ...

The only thing that’s going to give them a puncher’s chance against this thing is the winter storm that’s supposed to roll through the region late Saturday night into Sunday, and even then it’s supposed to be preceded by high winds. InciWeb lists a target date of Nov. 10 for perimeter containment.

 

Here’s an example of the beetle-killed trees fueling the Colorado fires. You can see the live trees in this long-range shot. The ones that look like gray toothpicks are dead dried-out trees that the mountain pine beetle outbreak has killed.

 

And isn't the mountain pine beetle infestation caused by warming climate as well?

 

Yeah, it decreases the time that the beetles need to kill a forest because it warmer weather allows them to grow faster. The larvae can produce glycerol to keep themselves from freezing when winter sets in; if cold weather sets in before they do that, the larvae will die. There should already be snow on the ground in Grand County.

Just to tie the whole thing together:

 

Wasn't it snowing in Colorado around Labor Day?

 

Not enough to prevent fires that are feeding on millions of acres of dead pine trees. The Cameron Peak fire (the one that East Troublesome is racing toward) has been burning steadily since mid-August right through that snowstorm. Cameron Peak is the largest wildfire in state history (~207K acres) and that’s where the bulk of the fire personnel have been. East Troublesome is being pushed by the jet stream toward the northeast, and there are satellite reports of flare-ups ahead of it that suggest it’s jumped the Divide despite the low oxygen level at 13,000 feet. If it has, then — based on prevailing winds — the town of Estes Park (gateway to Rocky Mountain National Park) is right in its path. Areas affected by Cameron Park are on the northern sides of Estes Park.

 

Some good news:

 

We stopped at Grand Lake for lunch on our trip through Rocky Mountain National Park two falls ago. This may be Shadow Mountain Lake looking north.

 

This fire burned more than 100,000 acres in less than 24 hours. It hopped the Continental Divide this morning, going over 13,000-foot plus mountains, and is aiming for Estes Park. It has a chance to combine with the Cameron Peak fire, which has burned since early August, is more than 200,000 acres and the largest in Colorado history and briefly threatened the edges of Loveland and Fort Collins last week, communities that aren't in the mountains. More than 350,000 acres are currently burning in the hills from Denver north to Wyoming. More than 7,000 structures have burned, the vast majority yesterday. It's also late October, which never sees activity like this.

Following social media last night was terrifying. I saw experts say they've never seen a wildfire burn so hot and fast. It's a testament to those working these fires that no one has died, especially last night. Colorado is no stranger to wildfires. This is nuts.

 

Mandatory evacuation for Estes Park. Much like the Spanish Inquisition, nobody expected a fire to jump the Divide.

 

The satellite hotspot map (which is never entirely trustworthy) was insane. Normally with a forest fire you have a few hotspots and the edges of the fire’s perimeter. With this one blowing up everywhere, the entire fire area was a hotspot.

 

I agree they aren't always tons accurate but burning 100,000 acres in a day means it probably was close to the truth. These smoke plumes have been ridiculous too. I am honestly shocked it got over the divide. Then again, after this season and how things have gone, maybe not.