More Fires

Yesterday, the fire that was behind Bear Peak moved around the front side.

It was still smoking this morning.  Today, we had some thunderstorms move through the area.  Unfortunately, the lightning strikes caused another small fire, this time on Green Mountain, between the second and third flatirons.  This one is called the Ironing Board fire. 

Fire behind Bear Peak

After an early spring and an unusually hot June, Colorado has been susceptible to fires (as most people watching the national news now know).  This afternoon, a lightning strike started a fire behind Bear Peak, a few miles west of where I work.  Here are a series of pictures as the fire grew:

We were told to leave work by 6 pm,

so I walked to trivia earlier than usual.

Once night fell, you could see the flames along the edge of Bear Peak.  So far, the fire hasn't started down the other side of the mountain.

Back in Boulder

It feels good being home again!  Here are some highlights of my first week back.

Cora's last trivia appearance before she moved back to Canada (with Tara and me):

Louisville's first summer concert in the park Thursday evening:

Louisville's farmers' market Saturday morning,

where I had peach-huckleberry pie and lemonade while watching Andy perform on stage:

Friday and Saturday nights were goodbye parties for Tara and Cora, respectively.  They will be missed!

Remaining days in Kansas

During my last day off in Kansas, I went with Nick and Armin to Hutchinson to visit a salt mine.

An elevator took us 600 ft. below ground.  The salt layer is about 400 ft. thick, and stretches from Kansas City to southeastern New Mexico. 

The restroom:

Millions of years ago, this area was a shallow sea.  During dry years, the water would evaporate, leaving the salt behind.  During the wet years, there would be mud and silt.  Over time, these layers of salt and mud built up, leaving the horizontal pattern seen below.

Here I am back in Salina eating a Cozy Burger.  Wichita was where the first White Castle was located, and this restaurant started up during the slider craze of the 1930s.

During my last flight, we flew into a double rainbow.

This was the storm we were targeting:

By the end of my 4+ weeks in Kansas, I was ready to go home!

Salina

I've been busy ever since I got to Salina.  Tomorrow will be only my third day off since I got here!  Here are some pictures from the past three weeks.

Intercomparison with NCAR's Gulfstream V:

Sampling inflow into a thunderstorm over Texas:

Storm chasing (by car, this time!) west of Salina:

Pontooning on Lake Milford on Memorial Day:

On Tuesday, I tried to make one of those sun-viewing devices with John, a co-worker of mine from NOAA.  We were trying to view the transit of Venus across the sun:

It didn't work, but luckily someone at the hangar took some good pictures!

A storm over Colorado:

This weekend Salina hosts the Smoky Hill River Festival.  I went with John (pictured above) and Armin, and we saw a couple of bands and ate some festival food.  The closing act were the Steep Canyon Rangers, a bluegrass band with a great fiddle player!