UPDATE: Wednesday, October 14th, 2015
5PM Sunday 2015-10-11
Sunday afternoon we noticed smoke on the north side of the Gallatin Valley. Given strong winds all day, we were fairly certain that a wildfire had started and taken off northwest of Bozeman. The following photo shows the smoke from the south side of the valley:
Photo by Doug Galarus
Recently we added a fire layer to the One-Stop-Shop. Given the big fires in California and Washington this year, we thought a fire layer would be helpful to travelers, particularly to show fire activity in relation to the road network. While the fire we spotted yesterday wasn’t near any major roadways, we understand that it did result in some evacuations.
A quick look at the One-Stop-Shop showed the fire’s extent in the short time it had been active. The fire layer we incorporated into the One-Stop-Shop uses satellite data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to show fire detections. See the red dots in the following screenshots from OSS north of Manhattan, Montana.
And here’s a screenshot of forecast wind gust speeds across Montana late Sunday afternoon. The good news was that winds weren’t forecast as strong in the Bozeman area as they were to the east and north:
The bad news is that strong winds were still forecast in proximity to the fire, with speeds approaching 34 mph:
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And, even though there had been rain Sunday morning, relative humidity near the fire was low and getting lower as evening approached:
Fortunately, as of Monday morning, the winds had died down and there wasn't much smoke visible.
Photo by Doug Galarus
Here’s more information about this fire:
http://www.kbzk.com/story/30235254/wildfire-burning-north-of-manhattanhttp://www.nbcmontana.com/news/helicopters-respond-to-3000-acre-fire-near-logan/35782402
Even though we’re now well into fall, fires like this one can take off under the right conditions. We hope that travelers find the new fire layers in the One-Stop-Shop useful in helping to improve their situational awareness.