High Park Fire

Two weeks ago a lightning strike during a thunder storm in the foothills some 25 miles west of us started a fire.  15 days on, it has burned over 81,000 acres and is still going strong.  Depending on the wind, we can wake up, as we did this morning, with the house full of smoke.  

We have been short of rain this spring and the ground is extremely dry.  Temperatures have been steady in the 90s and have exceeded 100 several days in the last week.

While looking online for the latest news on the fire this morning, I came across The chirpy headline:

"Colorado's High Park fire competes with blazes across the state" with this map:

And this after reading about the rain and floods Britain has been experiencing.  Nothing like a bit of contrast.