Smoke Hazard: Yellowstone National Park

Smoke rises above Yellowstone National Park. Source: National Park Service.

Yellowstone is known for many things, being the first national park, having Old Faithful and the Great Prismatic Springs, etc. It’s not, however, known for having smoke-filled skies and degraded air quality. But that’s precisely what’s happened for part of this past summer.

As you may be wondering, why is there smoke in Yellowstone? After all, it’s not well known for this park to have wildfires. It turns out that the smoke isn’t from Yellowstone itself, it’s from the west coast, where wildfires have been raging and the wind is causing the smoke to roll into not only Yellowstone but also surrounding areas. With that being said, I present to you a gallery of pictures from Yellowstone National Park before the wildfire smoke, and during it:

Before:

A view of Lower Falls from Artist's Point in the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone National Park. This is one of the most photographed views of Yellowstone. Up to 60,000 gallons of water can rush over Lower Falls in just one second.

Source: Yellowstone Forever.

During:

This is the same waterfall, from the same location. But a layer of wildfire smoke covers the landscape, making it difficult to gaze into the distance.

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Before:

Yellowstone Lake is the largest body of water in the park and the largest high elevation lake in the entire North American continent. Countless animals call this place and it's surrounding areas home, from cutthroat trout to land mammals like the mountain goat.

Source: Yellowstone National Park

During:

A bison chews grass near Yellowstone Lake, smothered in wildfire smoke.

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Before:

A bison herd spread across Lamar Valley in Yellowstone National Park. Yellowstone and Wyoming are the only place bison have thrived since ancient times.

The Billings Gazette

During:

A road in Lamar Valley masked in smoke..