In case you're thinking of...

[tgtaylor]

"spent the weekend in Vegas. Heading back to Northern California via 395. Lots and lots of smoke up on Whitney. The smoke starts in the mountains above Lonepine and right now we just went through Bigpine and it's still extremely smoky looks smoky all the way north down the Valley to Bishop. Scratch that we're in Bishop now it looks smoky all the way north to Mammoth"

Thomas

[Drew Wiley]

It's that huge fire in Kings Canyon. The smoke is spilling over Kearsarge Pass into Owens Valley. Cedar Grove itself is now at risk, and possibly Tehipite Valley.
Little Tehipite has already burned. Now probably over 100,000 acres and in some of the steepest terrain on the continent, impossible to fight except from certain
perimeters. Got word just before lunch that the backcountry in the San Joaquin River basin is clear (the high country, that is, not the San Joaquin Valley by any
means). Yosemite high country should be fine at the moment (Yosemite Valley is a mess as usual due to summer smog and control burns). And the Kern River
country to the south of the Kings seems clear. Certain foothill towns are under mandatory evacuation, and certain roads closed, due to severe smoke hazard, even
though the fire itself is quite some distance.

[Preston]

It's called the "Rough Fire". It's currently at 97,900 ac. with about 30% containment. You can read more here at InciWeb (http://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/4456/).

We've been getting a lot of heavy drift smoke here in the Foothills from that fire. Plus, there's now a very active 100ac fire a few miles east of Columbia. Air Attack from Columbia is hitting it hard, and I saw a MAFFS C-130 headed that way a little while ago.

Drew, there are no control burns in Yosemite. The NPS is working, or monitoring, some small lightning-caused fires in the high country, but that's it.

The NWS is calling for smoky, or very hazy conditions throughout the Sierra for at least the next week, especially for Owens Valley north to Bridgeport, Sonora Pass and the western foothills, along with above normal high temps and low relative humidity.

Be safe out there, everyone!

--P

[Preston]

There's a new fire in Yosemite. A fire broke out in vegetation above Yosemite Valley Monday afternoon. It is now 500 acres and is being aggressively attacked.

The “Tenaya Fire”, is located in Indian Canyon along both sides of the Lehamite Creek Trail from the north rim of the Valley to Tioga Road. Trail closures are in effect.

If you're headed into the Yosemite area, you should check for any road closures, and smoke will certainly be an issue.

--P

[Drew Wiley]

I'm still planning an end run south of the mess. Since the smoke is blowing north, and Mineral King and the Little Kern over that crest are still clear, it still looks like a nice trip, but with rain and possibly lightning predicted due to the remnants of a tropical storm coming up from Baja. I expect some noxious smoke driving across the San Joaquin Valley, however. We can even see and smell a bit of it here. But maybe it will start clearing by the weekend as the reverse air flow from that high pressure cell is pushed out. It's making things hot here, something rare this time of year on the coast. But gosh, Preston, wasn't it in Tenaya canyon that they had that late fire last year, that moved up from the meadow? Couldn't see a damn thing from the Tioga road then. But last month there was just a pinch of smoke from the June Lk fire coming over the top, and it actually added a tad of atmospheric effect to a few distant shots (black and white, of course), just what the doctor ordered. The negs look awfully nice, though I haven't had time to print anything lately.