Smoke in Eugene, OR: See Where the Fires Are

[BillTre]

There has been a lot of smoke in and around the Eugene, Oregon area the last few days.
At times today, the we have had 1/2 to 1/4 mile visibility. Other areas are worse.

The smoke comes from a lot of fires in the state and nearby (duh).

Those who are interested in this can look here to see where fires and their smoke plumes are.
The smoke plumes can be made visible using the layers button in the top right corner.
The map is zoomable and can be expanded to show a much wider area.

 

[OmCheeto]

There has been a lot of smoke in and around the Eugene, Oregon area the last few days.
At times today, the we have had 1/2 to 1/4 mile visibility. Other areas are worse.

The smoke comes from a lot of fires in the state and nearby (duh).

Those who are interested in this can look here to see where fires and their smoke plumes are.
The smoke plumes can be made visible using the layers button in the top right corner.
The map is zoomable and can be expanded to show a much wider area.

At least we're not Idaho.

It looks like 90% of their state is on fire.

This is a great tool though. I've been monitoring the fire just east of Portland since it started. ≈150 hikers were trapped between two fires yesterday and through the night. Quite the cliffhanger. Most were probably teenagers and people in their 20's. Lots of parents were cheering this morning.
Anyways, none of the tools I was using showed specifically where the fires were. We just knew there was one in the north, and one to the south.
The one to the south has been burning since July, but has had crews trying to contain it the whole time.
The one to the north started yesterday when someone was playing with fireworks. That's the one that actually trapped the hikers, and has resulted in the partial evacuation of a nearby town. It went from zero to HELL in a matter of hours.

One tool I like using to monitor fire and smoke, is earth.nullschool.net

Selecting "Chem" & "COsc" shows major fires.

Selecting "Particulates" & "PM₁₀" shows smoke levels.

 

[OmCheeto]

"Fire Radiative Power" took me a bit of time to figure out. (No references at PF)

Apparently, it's the output of a fire, in megawatts. [ref]

Wow.

--------------------
hmmmm... google google google:
Trojan nuclear power plant (Om's now defunct local plant)
Nameplate capacity 1,130 MW

1130/350 = 3.2

 

[OmCheeto]

Some weird internety stuff is going on.
It's almost like, "Oh yeah, well..., our fire is bigger than your flood!"

 

[Janus]

"Fire Radiative Power" took me a bit of time to figure out. (No references at PF)

View attachment 210355

Apparently, it's the output of a fire, in megawatts. [ref]

Wow.

I just noticed that the satellite that info is taken from is named "Soumi", which is Finnish for "Finnish" and also the name for Finland in Finnish. (Something I know due to my Finnish heritage.)

 

[OmCheeto]

I just noticed that the satellite that info is taken from is named "Soumi", which is Finnish for "Finnish" and also the name for Finland in Finnish. (Something I know due to my Finnish heritage.)

As a stamp collector of non-Finnish heritage, I object to your/their spelling.

I "imprinted" the name, 40 years ago, as "Suomi".

ps. My apologies for being so pedantic.
pps. I HATE pedantic people.
ppps. My younger brother was just the other day, asking about my stamp collection. hmmmm...

[edit] Actually, it was 50 years ago. Ehr mehr gerd, I think I'm old...

 

[Janus]

As a stamp collector of non-Finnish heritage, I object to your/their spelling.

I "imprinted" the name, 40 years ago, as "Suomi".

ps. My apologies for being so pedantic.
pps. I HATE pedantic people.
ppps. My younger brother was just the other day, asking about my stamp collection. hmmmm...

[edit] Actually, it was 50 years ago. Ehr mehr gerd, I think I'm old...

Typo on my part, I sometimes transpose letters when typing fast, and I don't always catch it. But don't you think it's a bit ironic that you spelled "their" as "their" in your response.

 

[OmCheeto]

Typo on my part, I sometimes transpose letters when typing fast, and I don't always catch it. But don't you think it's a bit ironic that you spelled "their" as "their" in your response.

As a lysdexic, I have no idea what you are talking about.

ps. How about this smoke? Got up this morning, and could chew the air.
pps. Was glad though, as that meant the wind had shifted away from Cascade Locks.
ppps. For any non-Goonies, who may have ventured into this thread, "Cascade Locks" is the name of a town, here.

 

[stefan r]

As a lysdexic, I have no idea what you are talking about...

pps. Was glad though, as that meant the wind had shifted away from Cascade Locks...

Which way was it going?

 

[Janus]

As a lysdexic, I have no idea what you are talking about.

ps. How about this smoke? Got up this morning, and could chew the air.
pps. Was glad though, as that meant the wind had shifted away from Cascade Locks.
ppps. For any non-Goonies, who may have ventured into this thread, "Cascade Locks" is the name of a town, here.

The smoke really wasn't bad where I live this morning. My wife and I were even able to get out to take our walk. Later in the afternoon I saw the Sun was reddish, but we still had no visible ground level haze. Just went out to take a picture of the red Sun before it set behind some trees. Still no ground level haze like we had even a few days earlier, but there was ash falling from the sky! Winds are shifting to come from the East, so it is going to be worse tomorrow.

 

[Janus]

Here's the ash that's collected on my car so far, and it's under cover in a carport.

 

[stefan r]

I traveled through Wyoming and into Montana for the eclipse. People there were complaining about the bad air. I thought the clean mountain breeze was quite refreshing. Lehigh valley must be permanent disaster area.

 

[OCR]

That's the one that actually trapped the hikers, and has resulted in the partial evacuation of a nearby town.

It's called the Eagle Creek Fire ...

You can look at all Wildland Fires... HERE .

Pretty good map... HERE .
You need to fool a bit with the map... lots of things you can click.
The map also asks for your location... I click "don't allow", but it's your choice.

A really well done wildfire site ... Wildfire Today .

 

[OCR]

My Brother, in our Water Tender, is on his way to the West Fork Fire right now... it's waaaay up by Libby.

I redacted a bit of personal info in this screen grab... my name and contract number, that is...

He just got home from the Lolo Peak Fire, yesterday.....

 

[OmCheeto]

It's called the Eagle Creek Fire ...

You can look at all Wildland Fires... HERE .

Pretty good map... HERE .
You need to fool a bit with the map... lots of things you can click.
The map also asks for your location... I click "don't allow", but it's your choice.

A really well done wildfire site ... Wildfire Today .

It would appear that the mapmakers are having trouble keeping up with how fast this fire is spreading.
An 18 mile stretch has been ordered to evacuate.
The County sheriff reported a fire 10 miles west of the closest fire on ALL of the maps. (Yours, mine, and BillTre's)

Corbett is what I would consider the eastern edge of the Portland metropolitan area.

It has also been reported that the Oneonta Gorge tunnel was on fire. This report is from a local photographer.
That photo, compared to a photo I took two years ago, seems to confirm this.

I've seen nothing in the news about this.
This kind of confirms my old prejudice; "It's really nice to get your reports from troops on the ground, rather than suits in a studio".

 

[OmCheeto]

Which way was it going?

It's been going every which way.
No significant winds really the whole time.
Fortunately for the hikers on day one, the wind was blowing the new fire away from them.
The day after they escaped(Sept 4), it changed direction, and pretty much merged the two fires, as far as I can tell.

From my notes:

Eagle creek fire started around 4 pm Saturday Sep 2nd

Sep 2, noon - 7:45 pm

6 mph SW​

Sep 3, 3:15 pm - 7:15 pm

5 mph SSW​

Sep 4, 2 pm - 3:30 pm

5 mph NNE​

The latest data says that the wind is blowing due east (towards ME! )
It's also the first time it's hit 10 mph, since the start of this "incident".
Ref: http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/mesowest/getobext.php?wfo=pqr&sid=ODT78&num=72&raw=0

 

[Janus]

It's been going every which way.
No significant winds really the whole time.
Fortunately for the hikers on day one, the wind was blowing the new fire away from them.
The day after they escaped(Sept 4), it changed direction, and pretty much merged the two fires, as far as I can tell.

From my notes:

Eagle creek fire started around 4 pm Saturday Sep 2nd

Sep 2, noon - 7:45 pm

6 mph SW​

Sep 3, 3:15 pm - 7:15 pm

5 mph SSW​

Sep 4, 2 pm - 3:30 pm

5 mph NNE​

The latest data says that the wind is blowing due east (towards ME! )
It's also the first time it's hit 10 mph, since the start of this "incident".
Ref: http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/mesowest/getobext.php?wfo=pqr&sid=ODT78&num=72&raw=0

The lastest weather report I heard said that the winds could build this afternoon, but die down over night and switch to from the West by morning. Right now, the level 1 evacuation notice reaches to just short of where I used to work in Troutdale .(~11 miles East of where I live.) If the wind does shift back to the other direction, that might be lifted.

Ash still falling here, 23 miles East of Multnomah Falls. The dark areas in this photo is ash that "drifted" into a collection on the concrete in front of my place this AM. I just had recently pressure washed this area, so the darker ash stands out.

 

[Janus]

It has also been reported that the Oneonta Gorge tunnel was on fire. This report is from a local photographer.
That photo, compared to a photo I took two years ago, seems to confirm this.

That tunnel just underwent a restoration and reopened in 2009 after have been closed for 60 yrs.

 

[OmCheeto]

This is pretty impressive:



This means the fire stretches continuously for 20 miles.