New Fires Blow Up Out West...

I was watching the network news coverage of the new fires breaking out over the dry western states and wondered...'how are these fires being started?"  It's not lightning so who is responsible for setting off these terrible blazes?   Not one reporter even mentioned how the fires started.

The top view has the large cloud shield associated with a snow storm over the northern Plains with the second showing all the clear skies west of the Rockies.  The bottom 2 are close ups of the Utah & Colorado smoke plumes with the biggest one west of Boulder near Estes Park spewing dark smoke riding up over the low cloud deck east of the Rockies.   So sad to watch, but who keeps setting these awful fires?   Back to our weather, which I have little to talk about.

There is a frontal boundary to our NW that has very cold air north of it and very warm air to the south.  Omaha is 37 while Kansas City was 80!  That front will stagger towards us but it lacks upper support to drive it through us.

We could even see some showers around on Friday with the better chances during the afternoon and evening.  Radar saw a couple of clusters of showers/storms mainly west of NOLA this afternoon.

There even was some lightning with the cluster SE of Galveston.   We could use a little rain, but most of us are ready for some cooler air.  Until an East Coast upper trough develops, I don't see that happening for the next 7-10 days.

Hurricane Epsilon rapidly weakened to a Cat. 1 today as it brushes by Bermuda.  It will quickly race out into the open Atlantic.

NHC still highlights an area over the western Caribbean for possible development.  Satellite views show lots of disorganized T-Storms and if something did form, it's expected to head across Cuba and stay east of Florida.  It won't be a problem for the Gulf.  Stay tuned!