A reality based independent journal of observation & analysis, serving the Flathead Valley & Montana since 2006. © James Conner.

25 July 2015

Reynolds Creek Fire maps with crazy dates

Take a close look at the dates at the maps below (open the 1920-pixel-wide PDF) of the Reynolds Creek Fire. “Thermal MODIS” is dated 25 July, 1220 MDT. “Fire perimeters” are 24 July, no time given. And the “Sit Reports” are dated 30 July, 2200 UTC. Yes, 30 July. This map is from GeoMac, but frankly I don’t trust it because there’s no excuse for dating the situation report five days in the future. What else is not correct?

Why do things like this happen? I suspect it’s a quality control problem, such as not working from checklists.

And while I’m at it, GeoMac’s color choice for fire perimeters is far from optimum. It’s hardly visible against the shaded topographic map. I changed the color to blue using Photoshop. GeoMac’s developers need to revisit their color choices, and make sure they’re suitable for people with color vision deficiencies (10 percent of the male population).

reynolds_730_25_july_topo-B