See the terrain the fire fighters are dealing with? Highway 115 goes through a canyon about seven miles north of Penrose. Beaver Creek State Wildlife area is on the west side of the highway. Fort Carson is on the east side. See the ridge on the east side that parallels the highway? The fire ran up that initially, but Thursday expanded from 65 to 670 acres on top of the ridge. I expect that’s where a lot of the work was done overnight. Imagine how much more difficult fighting fires are in terrain like that versus over the plains. Keep the firefighters in your prayers today.
Wind will be lighter Friday across the region, including in the vicinity of the fire, compared to what it will be on Saturday as a cold front approached. Red Flag Warnings have been posted by the local National Weather Service office in Pueblo for Saturday as a result.
Wind direction will change on Friday due to the large area of high pressure over the western United States creating low large-scale pressure gradients. This means that the local mountain-plains circulation will drive the wind flow around the fire through Friday.
Unless there is a strong jet or front in the area, the mountian plains circulation, similar to a sea breeze, drives the wind in southern Colorado. Daytime heating causes air over the mountain slopes to become warmer than the surrounding plains, creating a low-pressure zone that draws in air (anabatic wind). At night, the mountains cool faster than the plains, initiating a cool, dense airflow (katabatic wind) away from the mountains.
HOW IT WORKS
Smoke Plume Can Create Weather
The smoke plume visible from many areas on Thursday afternoon is an indication the the fire begins to make its own weather. In extreme situations, pyrocumulus clouds can develop into full fledged thunderstorms. One of these happened during the Hayman Fire in 2002. Even the plumes like the one viewed Thursday will begin to create enhanced wind at the surface in the vicinity of the fire.
