Winds whip Montana wildfire into a November inferno. By Lance Benzel of the Billings Gazette.
The fire is north of Big Timber, burning on the plains in grass, juniper, and pine.
Update Nov. 14, 2007. Wind-whipped Chichi fire leaves erratic trail of destruction. By Mike Stark and Linda Halstead-Acharfy. Billings Gazette. It burned 30,000 acres, 3 homes and other structures before snow calmed its advance. Gusts from 80 to 100 mph made this both unusual and very dangerous to fire fighters and others in the area.
Note that a gust of 127 mph from this cold front was recorded in northern Wyoming near the Montana border!
Ralph Maughan
Dr. Ralph Maughan is professor emeritus of political science at Idaho State University. He was a Western Watersheds Project Board Member off and on for many years, and was also its President for several years. For a long time he produced Ralph Maughan's Wolf Report. He was a founder of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition. He and Jackie Johnson Maughan wrote three editions of "Hiking Idaho." He also wrote "Beyond the Tetons" and "Backpacking Wyoming's Teton and Washakie Wilderness." He created and is the administrator of The Wildlife News.
