August - from the 'Year at Robie Creek' series
Originally published in the: Greetings once again from Robie Creek. We’re moving into the height of fire season now. Rainfall patterns this spring on the heels of a dry-ish winter have left us with a lot of overgrown but abnormally dry wildfire fuel in the understory. As the hot, dry weather usual to this time of year has settled in, smoke forecasts have become again part of our daily weather report, and on very smoky days the air has a sunset-orange hue at high noon. It’s really quite beautiful, and gives us a taste of what it’ll be like for a few months if Rainier goes off or a few years if Yellowstone does. The haze does keep it a little cooler when it’s thick, and right now the major fires are fifty miles to the west and north of us, no immediate danger. This year’s fires have been largely lightning-initiated – people have, so far, been cautious – starting in clusters and running together quickly into large complexes, but wildland firefighters from the Forest Service and BLM