[Geysers] Geyser Report (Fire Report?) Monday, September 12, 2016

[Barbara Lasseter]

Geyser Report (Fire Report?) Monday, September 12, 2016

WYS has been very smokey the past 2 nights.  It was necessary to close the
windows tightly and breathe thru the sheet.  Those nights were the worst I
have experienced since the Maple fire took hold a month ago.  Rain a week
ago settled the fire a bit, but dry windy weather coupled with preventive
"back fires" (they have another name for them) brought back smoke this past
week.  With those "back fires", the Maple fire has pretty much burned to
near the the Madison River North of town,  East as far as the bridge, and
it reached the W entrance road pavement in a couple of spots E of 7mile
bridge.  I heard it is the largest single fire in YNP since 1988. The Level
2 fire team stationed here the past 3 weeks or so will leave Tues.  We're
hoping this wet weather is enough to be a "season-ending" event.  If WYS
had gotten the several inches of snow I saw today from OF to the Lower
Basin, I believe that would have done it.  The fire team has recently
worked on fuels reduction along the park boundary with WYS, cut a "fire
break" (again, they use different terminology), and set those "backfires".
Between their efforts and the existing wetlands and burnout from the
Boundary fire last month, WYS is supposed to be fairly firesafe now and for
the next 20-30 years.  The Forest Service had been doing fuels reduction in
rotating blocks of forest around town for several years, and folks here
have a new appreciation for their foresight.  After the initial period of
studying, monitoring, and "let it burn", seeing action taken in the park
was a relief.  Despite all the smoke, the fire never got much closer than
3+ miles from town, but provided lots of dramatic smoke plumes and visible
flames as the fire slowly but consistently backed into the prevailing SW
winds.

The South Entrance was closed again as of yesterday, when the fires there
blew up.  Flag Ranch and the S Entrance were evacuated.

Today brought rain in WYS, changing to sleet by Madison Jct, then snow at
Fountain--lots of snow.  Great Fountain (0951 ns--best I could tell) was
nearly invisible in the snow, and White Dome was not distinguishable from
the snowy skies looking from Great Fountain.  I took many snow photos!

Back in WYS late this AM, it was rain again, although my car came back with
residual snow on the mirrors and across the hood.

Fan and Mortar went overnight Sat-Sun, ending a series of daylight
eruptions.

My last visitors have come and gone, as have many of the Labor Day crowd.
August is the only month this summer that did not have record
visitation--probably due to the closing of the S Entrance for over a week
and of course the fires.

Barbara Lasseter
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