West Texas Burn Scars from Space

[MannyIsGod]

Holy crap these fires were huge.

http://www.wunderground.com/hurricane/2011/SouthwestTexas_tmo_2011100.jpg

http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=1779

[MannyIsGod]

Actually ARE huge. Still 0% contained. I love that area of Texas. This sucks.

[clambake]

probably be an improvement.

[Agloco]

Holy crap these fires were huge.

http://www.wunderground.com/hurricane/2011/SouthwestTexas_tmo_2011100.jpg

http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=1779

I know I should go to Google Earth or something but I'm quarantined in a vault atm. This is north and west of big bend is it not?

[MannyIsGod]

More like straight north. The Davis Mountains are awesome.

[MannyIsGod]

probably be an improvement.

Whaaaaaaaaaaat. That area is the best part of Texas and its not even close.

[MannyIsGod]

http://www.mdpub.com/newphotos/May2005/guados.jpg
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/publications/parkguide/include/en/bigphoto_rgn_bb008.jpg

[Drachen]

Whaaaaaaaaaaat. That area is the best part of Texas and its not even close.

I know he was being factitious, but as far as cleaning up the area, I'll bet he is right. Go back in about a year or two when everything has grown back and it will probably be twice as nice.

[SpursNextRomanEmpire]

Whaaaaaaaaaaat. That area is the best part of Texas and its not even close.

:tu Marathon and Alpine are awesome

[MannyIsGod]

Its mostly shrubland so thats true, but any park infrastructure that is damaged might take a long time to fix in today's fiscal climate. Also, the McDonald Observatory is there as well.

[baseline bum]

Whaaaaaaaaaaat. That area is the best part of Texas and its not even close.

What he said.

[The Reckoning]

i didnt know rocks and sand are flammable

[mrsmaalox]

I was born in Alpine :) It's a beautiful area.

[CosmicCowboy]

This thing isn't over by any means...they are expecting winds to shift from the west and kick back up later this week...

[MannyIsGod]

Yeah, Springtime is wind time in West Texas and NM. I leaned that last year and it can get fucking CRAZY out here. Hurricane force winds are not unheard of. Thursday is the next day we're supposed to get some wind but it should not be as bad as Saturday was.

[Wild Cobra]

http://www.mdpub.com/newphotos/May2005/guados.jpg

Someone should carve that into a Sphinx!

[Cant_Be_Faded]

More like straight north. The Davis Mountains are awesome.

+1

Fuckin beautiful out there

[CosmicCowboy]

Yeah, Springtime is wind time in West Texas and NM. I leaned that last year and it can get fucking CRAZY out here. Hurricane force winds are not unheard of. Thursday is the next day we're supposed to get some wind but it should not be as bad as Saturday was.

Yeah, I go out to north of Marathon every Memorial weekend to a 25,000 acre ranch prairie dog hunting. Winds during the day of 25-30 mph are the norm. Makes taking 400-500 yard shots pretty interesting...

[MannyIsGod]

I tried to look at the hi res MODIS from today but its cloudy over the fires.

[Mulchie]

Cool thread.

[marini martini]

So sad, my most favorite place in Texas! :cry

[CosmicCowboy]

Just got this in an e-mail...

http://img851.imageshack.us/img851/6499/21968710150153678464123.jpg (http://img851.imageshack.us/i/21968710150153678464123.jpg/)

[MannyIsGod]

Amazing picture.

I was just looking over my pictures of the last time I was at the McDonald and everything looks so green. It was actually at the end of Summer too. I think it was in 07 but maybe 08. Everything there is dry dry dry now.

[phxspurfan]

Just got this in an e-mail...

http://img851.imageshack.us/img851/6499/21968710150153678464123.jpg (http://img851.imageshack.us/i/21968710150153678464123.jpg/)

Word, I just got back from Tatooine

http://nerdbastards.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/tattoine.jpg

[MannyIsGod]

http://ge.ssec.wisc.edu/modis-today/index.php?satellite=t1&product=true_color&date=2011_04_14_104&overlay_sector=false&overlay_state=true&overlay_coastline=true&sector=USA6&resolution=250m

[baseline bum]

Just got this in an e-mail...

http://img851.imageshack.us/img851/6499/21968710150153678464123.jpg (http://img851.imageshack.us/i/21968710150153678464123.jpg/)

Wow. A great and sad photo at the same time. I know it's a natural and needed thing, but I hated seeing Mount Wilson burn a few years ago (by far my favorite place near LA) and I hope to hell this fire doesn't spread to the McDonald Observatory.

[4down]

Just got this in an e-mail...

http://img851.imageshack.us/img851/6499/21968710150153678464123.jpg (http://img851.imageshack.us/i/21968710150153678464123.jpg/)

beautiful and terrible. I was hoping to head back out there soon.

[mrsmaalox]

Wow. I witnessed that "burning horizon" view out there one spring when I was at school at Sul Ross. In every direction, it surrounded Alpine. It was dark even during the day from smoke, and you couldn't stay outside long without feeling it in your lungs.

[MannyIsGod]

http://ge.ssec.wisc.edu/modis-today/index.php?satellite=t1&product=true_color&date=2011_04_15_105&overlay_sector=false&overlay_state=true&overlay_coastline=true&sector=USA6&resolution=2000m

Seems like its pushing back into the mountains today. Not good.

Some of the smoke trails in central TX are freaking LONG.

[CosmicCowboy]

some amazing photos...

http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2011/04/texas-wildfires/100050/

[Sec24Row7]

This is going to be a good thing long term... natural... it's going to help the wildlife...

[MannyIsGod]

Crazy photos

[CosmicCowboy]

This is going to be a good thing long term... natural... it's going to help the wildlife...

No doubt...lots more grass/browse...

[MannyIsGod]

Well, NM is now burning (and has been actually). Over the past month we've had smoke from the gigantic wallow fire out in Arizona come through and actually make ash rain down here.

Now we have a fire just to the NE of town that has been burning for about a week and today this new one popped up to the west. Its been just under 100 degrees for a few days now and winds have been up above 40mph today. When you factor in that the humidity is all of 6% you have pretty much the worst conditions for fire.

http://s3.amazonaws.com/twitpic/photos/large/331520567.jpg?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAJF3XCCKACR3QDMOA&Expires=1309131964&Signature=2lL%2FORR0Y37B1TE2C5FwEwOgrQw%3D

My camera on my phone sucks but that pic doesn't do justice to how well formed the pyrocumulus were. Never seen anything like it before.

[Drachen]

Well, NM is now burning (and has been actually). Over the past month we've had smoke from the gigantic wallow fire out in Arizona come through and actually make ash rain down here.

Now we have a fire just to the NE of town that has been burning for about a week and today this new one popped up to the west. Its been just under 100 degrees for a few days now and winds have been up above 40mph today. When you factor in that the humidity is all of 6% you have pretty much the worst conditions for fire.

http://s3.amazonaws.com/twitpic/photos/large/331520567.jpg?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAJF3XCCKACR3QDMOA&Expires=1309131964&Signature=2lL%2FORR0Y37B1TE2C5FwEwOgrQw%3D

My camera on my phone sucks but that pic doesn't do justice to how well formed the pyrocumulus were. Never seen anything like it before.

pic not showing up for me. Also, try camera 360 for better shots, or sleek camera for faster shots.

[MannyIsGod]

http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa136/Msalgado80/IMG_20110626_194441.jpg
http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa136/Msalgado80/IMG_20110626_154912.jpg

[Drachen]

fuckin crazy

[boutons_deux]

Allen Iverson would say:

"We talkin bout grass fire. We not talkin about trees, we be talkin about grass fire"

[MannyIsGod]

Oh its definitely trees. This is all conifer forest at anywhere from 6,000 to 10,000 feet above sea level.

http://media.kickstatic.com/kickapps/images/62902/photos/PHOTO_14340361_62902_27886979_ap.jpg

Last report from last night had it at 6,000 acres. It had entered Bandelier national monument in Frijoles Canyon. Today is supposed to be hot windy and dry again so hopefully they're able to keep it away from the monument, national labs, and Los Alamos.

[Chomag]

Man this side of the country needs freaking rain like it's nobody's business. Or else there wont be anything left to water.

[MannyIsGod]

Um forget 6,000 acres the newest update has it at over 45,000. This fire is growing so fast its ridiculous.

[lil'mo]

manny loves him some natural disasters

[MannyIsGod]

Yeah dude, nothing I love more than waking up to the ash falling outside my window.

[MannyIsGod]

Also this fire is anything but natural. There were no storms in the area so unless the trees decided to have a BBQ and it got out of control this is a man made disaster.

[boutons_deux]

Las Alamos Labs evacuated.

[MannyIsGod]

Las Alamos Labs evacuated.

Yeah - I know several people who work in Los Alamos at the labs or city gov and they were all told last night to stay home. They had a huge fire there 11 years ago so they're all on pins and needles because this is very similar.

[MannyIsGod]

http://desmond.yfrog.com/Himg737/scaled.php?tn=0&server=737&filename=1yue.jpg&xsize=640&ysize=640

Jesus. Thats an entrance to the labs in Los Alamos. Shit looks way to close. They've ordered mandatory evacs of the entire city.

[RandomGuy]

some amazing photos...

http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2011/04/texas-wildfires/100050/

Did you see the picture of "what was a fully restored antique Jaguar sedan that was destroyed by a wildfire"?

Ouch. It was a fully restored sedan, now it is a metal shell.