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Zeb Palmer @zebpalmer.com · 04/09/2026

No active Initial Attack #IdahoFire (31 Active Fires, but they're all much less active today...)

Zeb Palmer @zebpalmer.com · 03/09/2026

I declare today a snow day. Also, it was 65 days from the last "spring" snow in the region to the first "fall" snow. June 29-Sept 2 (that June 29 snow was > 12" of snow in the mountains around Salmon)

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Zeb Palmer @zebpalmer.com · 02/09/2026

Y'all have heard me talk about the Labor Day cold front for many years (if you followed me on OG twitter) Just got reports of Rain-Snow mix in the mountains near Salmon 😎 Labor day is late this year, but the weather change is not, thankfully, and it will impact (but not end) #IdahoFire season

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Zeb Palmer @zebpalmer.com · 02/09/2026

Couple more just popped up on the Boise NF. #IdahoFire To be clear, I don't think any of these will have significant growth. Conditions today, plus what's predicted, I think IA should catch all these.

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Zeb Palmer @zebpalmer.com · 28/08/2026

Ending today with 52 Active Fires, 26 of them large fires, and 11 active fires in Initial Attack. I've talked a lot about Labor Day cold fronts. This weekend's cold front ain't that, but it could hint at what's to come and, hopefully, be a step toward fall fire behavior. #IdahoFire

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Zeb Palmer @zebpalmer.com · 28/08/2026

lol, while I was distracted watching Dolly videos, by the time I actually posted this, my system pulled the latest official estimate: 90k. here's my 96k acre map #IdahoFire

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And here's the breakdown: top 10 #IdahoFire YTD. Note that the Big Grass Fire size listed is only the Idaho portion.

🔥 Over THREE QUARTERS of a MILLION acres have burned in #Idaho this year 🔥 That's my system's calculation. Official numbers typically attribute all of a fire's acreage to its state of origin, so they won't include the 387,501 acres of the Big Grass Fire that burned in Idaho.

778,021 acres burned in Idaho year to date in 2026. Four stats: 96 large fires year to date, 819 wildfires year to date, 50 active fires, 87,153 active fire acres. Footnote: includes the Idaho portion of the Big Grass Fire, which started in Oregon but burned into southwest Idaho; prescribed burns excluded. Source: NIFC WFIGS and WildCAD-E.

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A NASA Lockheed ER-2 (modified U2) flew an INSPYRE (INjected Smoke and PYRocumulonimbus Experiment) mission over the Crooked fire in Idaho this evening at 60,000'. Studying the effect of increasing wildfire intensity on smoke injection into the stratosphere. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/INSPYRE #IdahoFire

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There's no official perimeter for the Wildhorse Fire yet, but here's my estimated perimeter. I'm mapping the fire at around 65k acres. #IdahoFire

Zeb Palmer @zebpalmer.com · 26/08/2026

I think every photographer who's ever walked past that corner is required to have some form of that angle. I'm not even into architecture photography, and yet there I was laying on the sidewalk inches from the building with an ultra wide angle on a FREEEZING cold day in January 25ish years ago...

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Zeb Palmer @zebpalmer.com · 26/08/2026

One can never get enough of the classic Salmon, #Idaho sunset, with that sharp line between light and dark moving up the mountains and turning the Divide all shades of purple. #IdahoEscape

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New Fire south of Boise, at the Orchard Combat Training Center. Unnamed so far, but most here are named OTR # year It's IR and out of focus, but check out the 180-degree wind shift on the fire from the Bonneville Point fire cam. #IdahoFire

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Ending today with 4 new Large fire incidents and well over 10,000 acres under Initial Attack. (It says ~9.5k on my dashboard, but the Flint Fire is way bigger than the last official estimate) With lightning today, we'll see more IA fires overnight & popping smoke tomorrow.

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GO NOW Evacuation order for residents in Triangle #IdahoFire Webcams & Satellite detections show the Flint Fire is hot as of 11PM & moving east. I estimate approx 5 miles from Triangle. Already near residences. Fire may have received light precip, but shows hot after storm passage. #IdahoFire

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Storm w/ 40mph wind (potential for outflow winds well ahead of the storm) is headed in the direction of the Flint fire. The small area of rain is unlikely to hit the fire. Wind and lightning, on the other hand... #IdahoFire

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Looking through a gap in the clouds at the Flint Fire in the Owyhee via the GOES-West Satellite Fire Temp RGB image. #IdahoFire

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Yesterday and today have been busy for Initial Attack crews around the region. In Idaho, we've had ~34 new fires in the last 36 hours. 14 Fires are in Initial Attack. At least 1 new Large Fire (Flint) so far #IdahoFire

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She gone... 1,000+++ acres and absolutely boiling. SET Evacuation Status for Silver City. Flint Fire #IdahoFire

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Flint Creek between the Big Grass Scar and Silver City

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750 acres now... Satellite shows it's cooking. They won't catch this before dark; not enough resources. If it beds down, they *might* pin it in overnight. Winds shift towards Silver City tomorrow afternoon; fair chance we're looking at READY Status evac notice for Silver City. #IdahoFire

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Zeb Palmer @zebpalmer.com · 24/08/2026

The Flint fire in the Owyhee Highlands is burning pretty damn hot; the official estimate is 100 acres, but I'm betting we see larger numbers soon. #IdahoFire

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People message me for the most random things….

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Zeb Palmer @zebpalmer.com · 24/08/2026

This fire is west of the worst of the densest stuff; still, there are some open sage hills to anchor in from around Casino Creek, but any fire establishing to the east would be massive.

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Zeb Palmer @zebpalmer.com · 24/08/2026

Busy day for fire crews across Idaho, still cleaning up initial attack and some established fires after recent lightning. Keeping a close eye on the Casnio near Stanley and the Crooked fire near Idaho City—it's been active and hot. #IdahoFire

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Zeb Palmer @zebpalmer.com · 21/08/2026

I’ve been playing video games long enough that I have an overwhelming desire to go search around that tree. #OneTreeOneTreeOnlyPlease #sunset #IdahoEscape

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Zeb Palmer @zebpalmer.com · 20/08/2026

Y'all. It took a lot of work... but.... I'm down to owning only 40 domains! 😊

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Zeb Palmer @zebpalmer.com · 19/08/2026

What the heck is Jumper 55 doing going back and forth at Twin Falls you (didn't) ask? That profile is going to be an instrument currency flight for the pilot. It's a proficiency / legal requirement that pilots have to log instrument approaches to stay "current" #IdahoFire

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Zeb Palmer @zebpalmer.com · 15/08/2026

New fire at Jordan Valley……………………… Sigh…………….

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Zeb Palmer @zebpalmer.com · 14/08/2026

New Fire at Bogus Basin. It's a very small smoke at the moment, probably a single-tree lightning fire based on the look of it. Given the location, behavior, and conditions, it should be an Initial Attack catch. #IdahoFire #boise

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Zeb Palmer @zebpalmer.com · 14/08/2026

As a mostly-retired storm chaser, I can say with confidence that this tornado-warned cell in SLC is one of the most classic radar signatures you'll see, and it's VERY RARE to see a signature this defined in the Intermountain West. If you showed me this without a location, I'd expect Midwest/Plains.

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Wouldn't it be really cool if people built an entirely open-source and off-grid text messaging network? Oh wait...

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Radar indicates over an inch of rain fell on portions of the Big Rock Fire scar. #IdahoFire #IDwx

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Mesoscale Precipitation Discussion 1037 Heavy rainfall...Flash flooding possible scattered thunderstorms capable of localized 1-1.25"/hr rates with focused 1-1.75" totals.-- localized flash flooding possible, especially in rocky steep slopes or near recent burn scars #IdahoFire see alt txt

The green perimeter shows that Southern and South-Eastern Idaho are covered by a Mesoscale Discussion (MD) for Precipitation. Summary below:

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Mesoscale Precipitation Discussion 1037
NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD
240 PM EDT Thu Aug 13 2026

Areas affected...Southern & Eastern Idaho...Northern Utah...Western Wyoming...Southwest Montana...

Concerning...Heavy rainfall...Flash flooding possible

Valid 131840Z - 140030Z

SUMMARY...Strong developing dynamic environment with increasing deep layer moisture will support scattered thunderstorms capable of localized 1-1.25"/hr rates with focused 1-1.75" totals. Possible incidents of localized flash flooding are possible, especially in rocky steep slopes or near recent burn scars.

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Flash flood warning on the Big Rock Fire #IdahoFire

Flash Flood Warning
National Weather Service Pocatello ID
1158 AM MDT Thu Aug 13 2026

The National Weather Service in Pocatello has issued a

* Flash Flood Warning for... The Big Rock burn scar in... Southeastern Jefferson County in southeastern Idaho... South Central Madison County in southeastern Idaho...

* Until 200 PM MDT.

* At 1158 AM MDT, Doppler radar indicated thunderstorms producing heavy rain over the Big Rock Burn Scar. Flash flooding is ongoing or expected to begin shortly. Excessive rainfall over the burn scar will result in debris flow moving through the Big Rock burn scar. The debris flow can consist of rock, mud, vegetation and other loose materials.

HAZARD...Life threatening flash flooding. Thunderstorms producing flash flooding in and around the Big Rock Burn Scar.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...Life threatening flash flooding of areas in and around the Big Rock Burn Scar.

Red Flag for much of #Idaho with flash flood & flood watches on the back side. Initial threat of dry lightning/wind, moves to wetter storms tomorrow with that flash flood threat over recent burn scars. When we say flash flood & burn scar, this (Grandjean mudslide) is the worry:

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I'm rather surprised 55 is open at all. It's one lane w/ pilot car now, but still. Lot of rocks, burning logs, etc can come down like this given how steep that is. I'd argue it's not safe even in outer lane. #IdahoFire

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MM81 HWY55 Fire at Banks #IdahoFire been in meetings, just catching up. 100+ acres Air Attack, helicopters, SEATs and Lead plane up. Large Air Tankers inbound from Missoula maps I made of the *rough* fire area from initial satellite detection & suppression difficulty see alt text for more

my map of the rough fire area. it's burning on the finger of land between the North fork and South fork Payette rivers at the intersection of Banks-Lowman highway (17) and HWY 55.

A Map of the Wildfire Suppression Difficulty Index (90th percentile).

TLDR, the red areas are the most difficult areas possible to fight fire.

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Based on all available data I have, my own memory of the last 30 years in or covering wildland fire, as well as my knowledge of fire history... The 579,359-acre Big Grass Fire is now the largest single fire *ever* in the Northwest, and #2 ever in the Western US #IdahoFire 1/

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