High Sierra Topix

http://firesmoke.ca/forecasts/

not the Sierra, but check out this website. I wish we had something like this for the USA.

Because of dense smoke, 180 is closed at the Hume Lake junction. Have to bail on our Rae Lakes Loop and do part of the HST instead.

We could see the pyro cumulous cloud from the Walker fire from Sonora yesterday (8/15).

Here's a news report on the Rough Fire, the video stars a couple of HST members, Rogue Photonic and Alpine Mike, taking things in their stride

http://abc30.com/news/rough-fire-forces ... ve/934385/

Dave

See http://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/4515/ and
update http://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/article/4515/27195/

I just got back from 10 days on a variation of the Circle of Solitude. The Rough Fire was a constant companion, blowing in for a few hours each day, usually in the afternoon. Ended up taking a smoky layover day at Lake Reflection before climbing over Longley Pass the next day to perfectly clear weather. We stayed at lake 10962 in Sphinx Basin for two nights and watched the pyrocumulus clouds grow each afternoon. The second night was quite smoky and as we descended Sphinx Creek the following day we could barely see across Bubbs Creek. The smoke would come and go quite abruptly, so there wasn't much chance to escape it when it did roll in.

Delilah and Park Ridge Lookouts are closed due to the fire.

Per SEKI update: "8/17 - Smoke conditions have worsened because of the Rough Fire. Wilderness travel is not recommended in the Middle Fork of the Kings river drainage due to severe smoke impacts. In the Bench Lake and LeConte Canyon areas, smoke is not longer dissipating in the mornings and evenings. There are periods of raining ash. The smoke ceiling is approximately 10,000ft and visibility is usually about a half-mile. Conditions are worst in the afternoons, when visibility can be a low as a quarter-mile. Smoke has traveled as far south as Atwell Mill in Mineral King. The Great Western Divide is also seeing significant impacts."

http://www.nps.gov/seki/planyourvisit/trailcond.htm

I'll doing the High Sierra Trail the first 10 days of September. Any ideas on how this is going to affect that area?