ferguson fire update

very smoky here this morning.  yesterday was mostly clear air and blue skies (conditions can change hourly).  lots of air tanker activity yesterday...laying down retardant along the tops of the ridges to the northeast and north/northwest of our place.  on the map (credit dave toussaint) below, the red lines running along the tops of footman ridge and buckhingham ridge are the areas the planes have been laying down retardant lines to reinforce dozer and hand lines. triangle rd is the very light yellowish squiggly line that runs somewhat horizontally directly below buckingham ridge (better view in cropped map below).

 
on the cropped map below, if you draw a line from the little green mountain symbol on top of buckingham to the little suitcase symbol to the south, our house is somewhere near where that line intersects with the curvy yellowish line (triangle rd).

below is our house with a smoky buckingham mt. behind it.

looking dusky at about 11am

it's not always like the picture above.  yesterday it was quite clear and we got to see a nice blue sky...and lots of air tankers.

an air tanker outfitted to drop retardant

also had a pretty good view of a pyrocumulus cloud (huge billowing clouds that form above fires due to the intense heating of the air and its subsequent convection and contact with cooler moister air above) forming above the fire to the northeast of us.

we are doing alright.  trying to stay out of the smoke as much as possible and keeping an eye on what the fire is doing.  recent reports from fire officials have been optimistic for our area so unless there is a major change we likely will not have to evacuate.  it will most likely just be a matter of watching and waiting it out.