Norse Peak / Crystal Fire

The Park Service has closed the White River Road and Sunrise because of this fire; Cayuse Pass remains open:
www.nationalparkstraveler.org/2017/09/mo...e-areas-due-wildfire

Looks like there is going to be some good backcountry skiing in the future in this area. Lotsa areas with no branches.

Did Crystal complete the proposed snowmaking upgrades this summer? Water-storage and pumping capacity could be a godsend.

www.seattletimes.com/business/local-busi...by-longtime-manager/

I saw 10 snowmaking machines on two different trucks going over I-90 this summer--signs on the machines said "Crystal Mountain"

Looks like there is going to be some good backcountry skiing in the future in this area.  Lotsa areas with no branches.

True. Traditional avalanche environments will have been altered as well. Caveat skier.

Geomac fire map from the USGS is a very effective site for tracking fires.

www.geomac.gov/viewer/viewer.shtml

Under the "active fires" menu turn on MODIS and VIIRS. Both are satellite feeds. MODIS is updated at 3 AM daily and is 1,000 meter resolution and is based on collection and analysis of 36 different light spectrums. VIRS is 375 meter resolution, infrared only (I think), but is updated every 2 hours.
Under "base Data" you can turn on a usgs base topo map with location names and trails and roads.

And I just noticed it is accurate enough to pick up the smelter in west seattle.

Some smoke visible in Bullion Basin. Inciweb suggests that things are now clear-enough to bring aerial tools into play.