‘The sky was so darkish it was laborious to see’
San Francisco-based Rob Price has hiked in California’s Sierra Nevada many times while wildfire smoke was blown through the air.
But the thick, sooty air that choked Yosemite National Park on Saturday when he and his partner were backpacking was like nothing he had ever seen before.
“The sky turned the ugly color of a dark blotch, black and purple,” said Price. “It was raining ash. It felt completely apocalyptic.”
Price said when the smoke first swept into the park, the temperature dropped significantly.
“There were very gusty winds,” he said. “We only saw lightning strike, but heard a drumbeat from distant thunder.”
Apocalyptic skies – smoke, constantly falling ash, and a sickly orange sun – as we broke up on our hike and evacuated Wawona, Yosemite due to #CreekFire earlier this morning pic.twitter.com/N1Ywwakx3t
– Hannah Murphy (@MsHannahMurphy) September 7, 2020
Price’s story is just one of many reports that came from Yosemite on September 5th when angry wildfire sent clouds of smoke across the area about 40 miles south of the park.
“Apocalyptic skies – smoke, constantly falling ash and a sickly orange sun – when we stopped our hike today and evacuated Wawona, Yosemite because of the #CreekFire,” wrote one hiker on Twitter.
These reports symbolize a record-breaking wildfire season in California, in which more than 2 million acres have been burned since the beginning of the year. The fires have made outdoor recreation difficult in the state, known for its majestic mountains and emerald lakes, in a month when residents typically enjoy being outdoors. As of Tuesday, 22 California State Parks were completely closed and five partially closed due to forest fires. Yosemite National Park is open, but the southern part is under fire due to the creek fire.
The Creek Fire ignited Friday night in the Sierra National Forest near the Big Creek and Huntington Lake communities and raged on Saturday afternoon. It was moving so fast that campers were trapped around Mammoth Pool Campground and needed helicopter rescue.
The intense heat in the powerful updraft created an ominous cloud of smoke and ash known as the pyrocumulonimbus cloud.
“There was a much smaller fire on the Yosemite Park border, but it’s less than 1,000 ares,” said Daniel Harty, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service Office in Hanford. “That probably made a little smoke, but the smoke from Creek Far stretched all the way into Yosemite.”
UPDATE: @NOAAs # GOES17
Measurements from NOAA satellite imagery revealed that the cloud of fire was reached at an altitude of more than 45,000 feet. Dr. Colin Seftor, an atmospheric researcher at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, told NASA the cloud of fire was possibly the largest ever observed. The cloud reached more than 45,000 feet.
NASA calls pyrocumulonimbus “the fire-breathing dragon of the clouds” because they “direct their smoke like a chimney into the stratosphere of the earth”. These clouds often create their own weather and generate rain, hail and thunderstorms.
Harty said Saturday was too dry for the cloud of fire to produce rain, but there were reports of thunder and lightning.
Incredible #PyroCB (Pyrocumulonimbus) cloud created by the intense heat of the #CreekFire in California. The peaks occasionally reached heights of eight to nine miles, with updrafts strong enough to force overshoot peaks into the stratosphere. https://t.co/RPx0k8UTRP
– NWS Portland (@NWPortland) September 6, 2020
Price and his partner were on a two-day backpacking trip with a plan to hike 36 miles between Mono Meadows Trail Head and Red Peak. The trip was cut short when the smoke filled Yosemite. She and many others on the trail were confused and unsure where the wildfire that was creating the smoke was.
“One of the things we worried about was that the fire could have been between us and our car,” he said.
On Saturday at 3 p.m. they were at Upper Merced Lake packing up their gear. “The sky was so dark it was hard to see,” said Price, who is originally from the UK. “Ash swirled around the torch [flashlight]. It felt like the fire could have been just a few kilometers from us. “
They debated whether to wander deeper into Yosemite to escape the smoke or take the risk and get back to the car. Based on another hiker’s report that the road to Mono Meadows was open, they set out on their way back.
“It was pretty scary because we had this lack of information about where this fire was coming from and we didn’t know if we were going the right way or not,” he said. “The only alternative we had was to drive another 40 or 80 miles on the higher lake and risk the fire getting worse.”
After a 24 mile hike on Saturday, they arrived at Mono Meadows.
“The ashes burned our eyes, stuck to our skin and clothes,” he said. “I have never experienced something like that. Some of the pieces of ash ranged in size from tiny spots to the size of a fingernail.
He added, “There were several hours that were very stressful. In the end, the air didn’t feel safe to breathe, but we had to get out.”
MORE WILDFIRE COVERAGE:
Photos show the extent and destruction of forest fires in the Bay Area
‘Sad’: California’s oldest state park closed for at least a year due to forest fire damage
Will the evacuation of forest fires accelerate the spread of the coronavirus in the Bay Area?
California forest fires are now as big as the Grand Canyon
10 things to do when wildfire approaches your home
How to protect your pets from forest fire smoke
Amy Graff is the news editor for SFGATE. Email her: agraff@sfgate.com.
