With the recent discussion of observing trips to the northland over the coming weekend, I thought folks would be interested to know about three fires in the region. The first two are the Mormon and Lizard fires. They're burning east of Flagstaff, moving northeast and are expected to run out of fuel over the next week to 10 days. Southwest winds are carrying the smoke northeast of Flagstaff. Both were started by lightning strikes. The third is a prescribed burn, called the Cherry Burn. This is producing substantial smoke which is being carried up along I-17 toward Flagstaff. In fact, the smoke is so heavy in the area that a section of I-40 along the south side of Flagstaff is closed to traffic until about 8pm, tonight. The Cherry Burn plume is visible in the linked satellite image: http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/satellite/1km/Flagstaff/VIS1FLG.GIF You can check for closures and restrictions within the Coconino National Forest (http://www.fs.fed.us/r3/coconino/ ) and the Prescott National Forest (http://www.fs.fed.us/r3/prescott/ ) at the provided URLs. Regards, Bill Ferris "Cosmic Voyage: The Online Resource for Amateur Astronomers" URL: http://www.cosmic-voyage.net -- See message header for info on list archives or unsubscribing, and please send personal replies to the author, not the list.