California Wildland fire News and Notes - July 3rd

Northern California Geographic Area Coordination Center (ONCC)

Lightning activity resulted in numerous small fires in the past few days.
The Siskiyou Unit of CALFIRE had the most activity last night, reporting 18 fires, with the largest at about 5 acres.
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Trinity, SHF. A lightning fire reported at 180 acres and 10 percent containment. This fire is burning within the 1999 Megram Fire. Heavy fuels, with snag patches in the fire area.

Southern California Geographic Area Coordination Center (OSCC)

Grouse CA-YNP-001510 (IC Spielman). Fires location is approx. three miles southwest of Yosemite Valley It is approximately 848 acres 15% contained. Fuels Involved Short needled timber litter. Fire Behavior Generally backing with some isolated torching. Clouds and light rain has slowing fire behavior. Fire Burned along Steamboat Ridge ahead of anticipated fire spread. Firefighters prepped area along Wawona Road for future reinforcement. Personnel are working ahead of the fire implementing management actions along Steamboat Ridge to prevent northward fire spread. The fire is visible along Wawona Road (Highway 41) and Glacier Pt. Road. Temporary road closures may be enacted for visitor safety. Wind Conditions 2-5 mph Southwest, Temperature 80 degrees, Humidity 17%. These two fires (Harden and Grouse) are being managed to achieve both protection and resource objectives.
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Harden CA-YNP-001659 (7800’, Tuolumne Co); Lightning-caused, It is north of White Wolf, west of Harden Lake and within the 1996 Ackerson fire perimeter. It is 300 acres 15% contained and burning mostly in brush and Red Fir. Fire officials are assessing the need for closures around Harden Lake, Smith Peak and the old Aspen Valley Rd. Values at risk identified as Great Grey Owl habitat, remote spike camps
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Shotgun Fire CA-SQF-002025, Incident is being managed by a Type 3 organization. (IC Gibbs) Fire is 263 acres 5 MMA % contained burning in grass, brush and Fuel model 9 Hardwood litter. Fire is located approximately 25 miles north east of the City of Porterville in the vicinity of Shotgun Creek that runs into the Little Kern River and is on the Golden Trout Wilderness. Base camp was established at the R Ranch.

Northern California Weather Outlook Today: Isolated showers and thunderstorms are possible near the OR border and from the Cascade-Sierra crest east today. Thunderstorms will produce light rainfall, but dry lightning strikes will also occur. A low pressure trough will deepen offshore today through the weekend and produce a gradual increasing SW flow over the North Ops area. This will push any moisture off to the east, and no showers or thunderstorms are expected on Saturday. Sunday will be a bit cooler with increasing S-SW winds as the low moves closer to the coast. Late in the day there's a slight chance of a shower or thunderstorm in far NW CA as a disturbance passes to the NW. The strongest winds (gusts to 32-38 mph) will combine with fairly low RH east of the crest late Sunday. A strong low will be near/over the NW corner of the North Ops region through midweek and produce temperatures as much as 15-20 degrees below normal and a chance of showers or thunderstorms each day, with higher chances in the north. Late in the week conditions will begin to slowly move back to seasonal normals.

Southern California Weather Outlook Today:
A ridge of high pressure centered over the Desert Southwest will maintain above normal temperatures and
low humidity over most of the region through Monday. There will be isolated showers and thunderstorms
over the deserts near the Nevada and Arizona borders through this afternoon. The ridge of high pressure
will weaken bringing near normal temperatures and a little lower humidity to most of the region Tuesday
through Thursday. There will be gusty south to west afternoon winds over the mountains and deserts
through the middle of next week. Morning low clouds and fog will push into the coastal valleys through the
middle of next week. END/Shameson
Fire Potential Discussion:
The potential for large fire will be low to moderate across the region through the forecast period. The
thunderstorm threat will be limited to the deserts near the Nevada and Arizona borders today and then no
thunderstorms are expected over the region Saturday through the middle of next week. The thunderstorms
over the deserts are not expected to pose a problem because they will be isolated and wet. Initial attack
will most likely continue to be moderate through the forecast period because temperatures will remain
warm and humidity low.
CWCG Preparedness Level:
CWCG Preparedness Level 2, MACS Mode 2