Thursday brought us the hottest temps of the week, paired with winds and low humidity, which have led to rapid growth of the Gifford Fire. Plus, hot, windy, and dry weather has been the story all around. Before I dive into all of that, here are a few links to keep on hand.

Plumes of smoke could be seen far and wide across the region emanating from the Gifford Fire. These are pyrocumulus clouds and are fueled by the hot air within fires, pushing up to cloud level. That rising air creates strong local winds at fire sites and erratic fire behavior. Here is an image I captured of the smoke plumes.

Here is a look at the current map of the Gifford Fire as of 5:50 p.m. At that hour it stood at 98,396 acres and 15% containment.

Thursday brought high temps into the triple digits for interiors, 7

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