Day: August 13, 2020

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Yellowstone Radio 2020 -- Part 1

For the first time in years, I listened in to the NPS radio channels. Got out of the habit, and had forgotten how entertaining it can be.

Some of the entertainments from the past couple of weeks

  • The woman who, because of a family dispute, decided to head straight down from Monument to Beryl. She broke her leg about a quarter of the way down, and had to be helicoptered out.
  • The campsite "100 yards from the Lone Star Trailhead". These three people got citations for "out-of-bounds camping", a fire outside of a firepit, and a dog in a closed area.
  • The two motorcyclists who were filmed engaged in "thermal trespass" in the Black Sand Basin. When Law Enforcement Ranger arrived, he called for backup. The radio check had one of them with a conviction in 1988 for "assault on a police officer" among many other incidents. They both ended up getting a court date.
  • The old guy who got cited for "disorderly conduct" after an altercation in the Upper Ham's Store over masks. Something about spitting was involved, it seems.
  • The Life Flight helicopter that made it to Old Faithful, but couldn't leave because of a check engine light. They had to send in a second one.
  • The Mercedes that got high centered parking off road north of Midway, and needed a towtruck to get out.
  • The bicyclist who went from Geyser Hill to Biscuit, only to have Law Enforcement waiting for him with a citation.
  • The guy whose traffic stop check included a "non-extraditable warrant from Virginia."
  • The guy who got cited for camping up by Harlequin Lake. It was dark and he had to tear it all down.
  • The people who drilled holes into trees in the Madison Campground so they could insert hooks and hang their hammocks.
  • The fifth-wheel that couldn't make one of the corners at the fire road emergency bypass without taking out a bunch of cones.
  • The drone operator out by Castle who got a court date.
  • The leaking propane tank over by one of the ranger housing units.
  • The day there were three medical emergencies over by the Lodge and the Photo Shop. They had to call in backup from Grant that day.
  • Various boats, kayaks and floatation devices used by people in the Firehole River above the falls south of the closed swimming area.

That's just what I remember and was able to decipher. Should have plenty to post for Part Two in a few weeks.

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Observations for 2020 August 12

The middle of the night One Burst Grand eruption continued the number of short intervals I've seen recently. The sky was overcast, so not much opportunity for any meteor observing.

I did have to wait a Turban interval, but that one ended with another of those Turban starts where it just feels like Grand wants to start. The power of Turban, combined with the hint of steam getting thicker over Grand proved to be correct. That eruption was one of those with several minutes of Big Sawmill, padding the duration out to 12-1/2 minutes.

West Triplet started before the eruption, and right after Grand finally quit. Rift started.

Went out again in the morning for the next One Burst Grand. It was overcast, breezy, and cool. Got a Turban Delay with the first Turban eruption after arriving. This one even featured a small Grand boop several minutes before Turban started. Right after the boop, the pool dropped and kept dropping.

Ended up having a six Turban delay, although if one of the intervals had been about 30 seconds longer, it would have been a D2/D4. Several of the Turban intervals featured weak or no overflow from Grand, and short durations for Turban. It finally erupted on a short Turban interval where the pool was full by eleven minutes and then kept slowly filling with lots of waves.

The pool drained after the first burst, then refilled. It sloshed for over a minute before until Vent started having some powerful jetting, signaling the end. With the draining, Vent & Turban quit almost immediately.

Also got to see a Churn eruption from the benches right before the first Turban Delay. At some point, would be nice to see one up close.

The afternoon One Burst Grand was almost a repeat of the morning's activity. There wasn't a threat of rain, but it was overcast, cool, and windy. The interval was slightly longer even though the Turban Delay was for five intervals instead of six. West Triplet was ending an eruption as I arrived, and it started again during the Grand eruption.

All three Grand eruptions today were outside the NPS prediction windows. The first was before, the later two were after.