Yellowstone fire closes Grand Loop Road

September 25, 7:10 PMWildfire ExaminerBill Gabbert

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As you can see on the screen grab from the Mt. Washburn web cam, the Arnica fire north of West Thumb in Yellowstone National Park is cranking out some smoke and probably quite a few acres too.

Yesterday afternoon the size was estimated at 250 acres. It probably added a significant number to that figure late yesterday and this afternoon.

The park news release says one of the tactics being used is to utilize helicopters to cool the south flank near the Grand Loop Road. The photo above is looking at the fire from the north.  I would be surprised if helicopters are able to do much "cooling" on a fire that looks what we are seeing on the web cam.

Here is a map showing heat detected by satellites at 1:20 p.m. MT, Sept 25. 

For some reason Grand Teton National Park, south of Yellowstone, sent out this message via Twitter at 3:54 p.m. today:

Urgent message for Yellowstone! Arnica Fire is 1/8 mile from Grand Loop Rd. Road is closed from W. Thumb to Bay Bridge. AM 530 has updates.

Maybe Yellowstone has not entered the age of Twitter yet.

The weather forecast shows conditions that will be favorable for significant fire growth through Monday, including west winds up to 22 mph on Saturday and 17 mph on Sunday.