Fire in Mountain Center darkens Palm Springs ...

[Screerider]

...and 10* cooler.

[zippetydude]

Thanks for all the informative posts everybody. I've been watching in dismay from my semi-distant vantage point in Yucaipa. Here's what it looks like from my house:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/zippetydud ... 662150685/

(Incidentally, that last pic was taken a few minutes later of the moon in conjunction with Spica.)

Note that just as the sun was setting the fire made a run and the plume looks like a bomb went off. Looks scary and sounds pretty negative on the inciweb update from this morning. Hope all the fire crews can stay safe.

z

[bytebit]

Here's the latest on the fire:

http://www.inciweb.org/incident/3516/

[cynthia23]

Just saw on KESQ.com that they are ordering an evacuation of the "stone houses" (Andreas Canyon Club) on the lower slopes in South Palm Canyon. They say they don't think the fire will actually burn down into South Palm Springs but they are dropping fire retardant and preparing in case it does. It's now at eight thousand acres. Air quality here in the valley is very bad. You can't spend more than a few minutes outside without eyes smarting.

[Jill G]

Here's the view from Palomar Mtn High Point webcam.
http://hpwren.ucsd.edu/cameras/L/hp-n-mobo-c.jpg

I took pictures this a.m. from the GlenOak Hills east of Temecula 2000' elevation, will post later.
Fire is burning in the Garner Valley from Apple Canyon to what looks like Fobes Ranch Rd area and just flared up again at 11:30 a.m

[scottmac]

Very cool Google Earth file to track fire:

MODIS website: http://activefiremaps.fs.fed.us/googleearth.php

[Hikin_Jim]

Dang. This sucks. I just hiked through that area over Memorial Day.

HJ

[Florian]

Very sad.

-Florian

[cynthia23]

ScottMac, that visual is awesome. Thanks so much for posting. I was just down in South Palm Canyon. You can actually see small fires starting down at around 1800-2000 feet in the Murray Canyon/Maynard Mine area. There isn't all that much vegetation there and they'll probably burn themselves out. More disconcerting is the wide range of the fire. It's all along the ridge line and very wide.

[Sally]

This is just heartbreaking. I've been keeping an eye on the smoke all day from Temecula. I'm sending good thoughts to the firefighters and people and critters that live in the area. I'm grateful that I've had the opportunity to see that beautiful area in its un-burned state, and will hopefully still be hiking when it has been able to recover somewhat.