Here we are wrapping up our fifth straight day of record-breaking heat (102-105) in Denver, and we just can’t catch a break. Clouds rolled in this afternoon and instead of rain, we got lightning, which started a fire right outside Boulder, just south of the Flatirons. The smoke is visible on the Boulder Flatiron webcam. Severe thunderstorms in the area are now kicking up gusts to 35 mph and blowing the fire NE toward town.
Good grief PT, you guys just can’t seem to catch a break! We’re expecting temps approaching 100 by weeks end here but, gratefully, no fires as of yet. With the lingering lack of rain, however, “precaution” advisories have been issued…
Ma Nature seems particularly intent on destroying the West right now. Still, precautions elsewhere couldn’t hurt.
To get your rain dance started:
That Page and Plant video is great!
It’s from the 1994 release “No Quarter: Jimmy Page and Robert Plant Unledded”. It was originally an MTV ‘unplugged’ project. There are two versions, one released in 1994, and then re-released in 2004 with a different set of tracks.
Either one is fantastic, and available for download (note to FBI: I do not condone downloading copyrighted music. I most certainly would never suggest going here: http://torrentz.eu/search , for example, and searching for either album.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Quarter:_Jimmy_Page_and_Robert_Plant_Unledded
Thanks Gabriel. Unfortunately, “The Rain Song” is only one the 2004 reissue, which doesn’t come up in any of my searches! 🙁
Sorry, I thought I saw both versions available. But now I can’t find the 2004 either. Weird. The DVD of the original MTV production is available… if you want. It has all of the tracks from both releases. It’s a large file though, but if you wanted to find it I certainly would never suggest you search for ‘Jimmy Page and Robert Plant No Quarter Unledded DVD5’ at the link I left above.
Thanks. I’m “looking” into that as I type! 😉
Ah, Gabriel, thank you so much for your thoughts and the time spent posting these.
…I have 57 songs with the word “Rain” in the title. Which, now that I’ve counted, seems like far too many. It’s an amazing thing your state is going through. I know there are a lot of Canadian firefighters in Colorado right now, doing what they can. The silver lining through the smokey haze is the houses will be rebuilt and the trees and flowers will grow back.
This band is called ‘Blue Rodeo’:
We have firefighters here from everywhere.. Some of the aircraft are Canadian, too. Bless ’em all. Saw a picture of one that said Saskatchewan on the side.
Thanks for sharing that great Canadian music, too. When I saw the title “Rain Down on Me,” I thought this was coming:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UN6Sw3Rh6ug]
Looks like all these songs about rain have had an effect. We have scattered thunderstorms up and down the Front Range this afternoon. It’s cooler and we can smell the rain. Some rain has fallen here and there, enough to dampen the ground at least. But it’s been mostly north of Colorado Springs. The Springs has mostly caught just strong gusty wind, some of it strong enough to ground the helicopters. In Denver, Boulder, and up to the High Park Fire near Fort Collins, there has been some rain. In fact, there are now flash flood warnings in the High Park area because all the burned off slopes won’t hold any water. It will all go downhill — fast.
I’m happy to have played my part… I’m all about results. Have you ever read “Collapse” by Jared Diamond? The subtitle is ‘How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed’. If you haven’t, I’d suggest finding a copy. These are his eight environmental reasons why civilizations fail:
Deforestation and habitat destruction
Soil problems (erosion, salinization, and soil fertility losses)
Water management problems
Overhunting
Overfishing
Effects of introduced species on native species
Overpopulation
Increased per-capita impact of people
I’m not saying Colorado is falling into a black hole of despair and anarchy, I’m just suggesting that a highly respected scientist and Pulitzer prize winning author might be leaning that way…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collapse:_How_Societies_Choose_to_Fail_or_Succeed
Hay carumba! Not only do we have over 100 degree temps like you – the CO smoke has drifted all this way – we are under “red” dangerous air quality alerts. (and a sudden thunderstorm had lightening strikes that hit transformers and interrupted power for some yesterday)
Been checking the webcams – really not a good time for hiking.
Those we check on are OK so far – but these fires come up so fast and simply everywhere.
Praying for dropping winds, more humidity, less storms!
Thanks for update
For the first time in decades I’ve thought of Pecos Bill and Widowmaker, and wished he could ride down to Florida, rope up ‘ol Debby, and drag her back up here to Colorado. (Maybe share with you on the way back.) Your drought last summer was the big story.
Hard to believe our smoke has gone so far south. Sorry about that. I thought it was all going NE into Nebraska.
Those Buffs are always sending stuff to Nebraska. Maybe we should put out a Bat type call to Pecos Bill?
Definitely. Bill would know how to handle this