Coming down several thousand feet in elevation, I arrived to find it 95+, extremely windy (30+ mph winds), and exceptionally dry.
As a result, what is now one of the largest forest fires in the country was erupting just outside Fort Collins. It made for a very surreal visit; I was attending an astronomy session several miles upwind of the fire, and so in addition to seeing amazing views of stars, I was able to watch air tankers circling overhead.
Here's a photograph I took from the CSU campus yesterday afternoon, less than 12 hours after the fire started. It covered about 5,000 acres then, and from what I read, it covers more than 14,000 now.
Driving back to Laramie last night in the glow of massive flames made for a very eerie experience, but since I was dodging lots of "rubberneckers" and lacking a camera, you'll have to take my word for it (or check out this photo I found online for some idea).
Yikes, I hope it stays at least somewhat contained up there... I'll be coming through CO in a few days, while on the crew for the bike race again this year, but ending in Durango this time and flying home from Denver. Hope all is going well over there!
ReplyDelete