By Bill Lucia
RouteFifty
“I’m one of those hardcore lab-coated scientists,” said Janice Coen, the lead wildfire researcher at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado.
For about two decades, Coen has studied how wildland fires and weather interact. Weather, especially wind, can be a critical factor in determining how a wildfire moves. And, as heat from the fire rises, it can actually alter what’s happening meteorologically.
“The weather directs the fire, and the fire also creates its own weather,” Coen explained in a recent interview.
Predicting how this interplay between the flames and the air up above will affect a fire’s behavior can be extremely difficult, particularly in mountainous terrain, where airflows can move in complex and unexpected ways. Less understanding about how a fire will act can translate to more risk, notably for the firefighters who are on the ground battling a blaze.
Read full coverage here.