Fire very close to Helena
In many places all over the globe wildfires are burning places that are dry as a bone because of years and years of drought. Montana is one of those places. In some parts of the world, heavy rains after long drought have encouraged huge amounts of plant growth -- only creating more fuel for the fires to devour when the land does dry up again as it has in Montana. So, I know we are not alone in living with wildfire almost every summer. Though it is hard to breath some days, and the smoke makes our eyes sting, I feel grateful that our home is not threatened.
Last weekend, this truly gigantic cloud formed over the Meriwether Fire in the mountains north of Helena. There is now way I can capture the enormity of this cloud formation in a photograph. It towered over the city of Helena and over our valley. You can see the mountain ridge at the bottom left of this photo. This cloud was formed of smoke from that fire.
Since the start of this particular fire close to Helena, our skies have been alternating between something like in this photo above (clear but with huge smoke clouds forming ... and thick, murky smoke that permeates every corner of the city. Like in this photo:
Check out the larger version of the cloud
Last weekend, this truly gigantic cloud formed over the Meriwether Fire in the mountains north of Helena. There is now way I can capture the enormity of this cloud formation in a photograph. It towered over the city of Helena and over our valley. You can see the mountain ridge at the bottom left of this photo. This cloud was formed of smoke from that fire.
Since the start of this particular fire close to Helena, our skies have been alternating between something like in this photo above (clear but with huge smoke clouds forming ... and thick, murky smoke that permeates every corner of the city. Like in this photo:
Check out the larger version of the cloud
what's this about?
Maureen and Tim
3 comments:
Amazing picture. we are really lucky that we haven't had any major wildfires on the island this year. mind you, it hasn't been very dry here this summer.
ditto that over here in Raincouver! We are finally getting a stretch of "summer" weather, but it is definitely not hot. Maureen, I really like that top picture, it looks so old-fashioned...what is that building in the picture?
Hi you two ... we just got back from our summer trip to Mt shasta in California. Whew! drove into even thicker smokey air than when we left! There are SO many wildfires burning. It's supposedly hazardous outside (to breathe the air) and I can believe it -- yuck! You are lucky to have had so much rain, even though it's no fun to play outdoors when the rain is coming down all the time. Oh well, the grass is always greener ...
Marybeth, glad you like the photo. I did the sepia effect in Photoshop. That building is a funky 60s bit: it used to be the school bus station, but now is just a storage place for old retired school buses. It's right across the road from Tim's woodworking shop. The tower in the background is the old airport traffic control tower. It is now used (since we have a new airport in a different location) for air traffic control for private planes in and out of Helena.
Hope you guys get some sunny days, though the rain is always good too.
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