It is not likely that rain will fall out of this cloud, but I can’t predict the weather. I write and I photograph.
At about 2:00 p.m., CDT, I drove on the south side of Possum Kingdom Lake and photographed the ignition of fires on the west side of SH 16, north of US 180. Please see my previous post for the photographs. The smoke clouds began to rise and extend heavenward beyond what I could imagine.
Thirty-minutes ago at 7:00 p.m., from my front pasture, maybe twenty-thirty miles away, I shot the following photograph of cumulus clouds that had arisen from the fire five hours ago over Possum Kingdom. The photograph is not artsy, but documentary, and signifies a correlation of natural forces that are comprehensible, yet in the narrative of this terrible tragedy cannot be understood.
From the anguish and death of this Possum Kingdom fire, clouds form out of dust and ashes, rising so high they become cumulus. On other days, they might of yielded rain to parched pastures in Texas and Oklahoma. The connection between destruction and creation is just confusing right now, but it is how things are.
Out of fire, a cloud, perhaps rain.
This is the photograph without the telescopic lens. I am looking north from our place in north Erath County across the Nowack ranch where they have set up vehicles for evacuation if necessary.
Notes:
Corrections applied to third and fourth paragraphs, breaking up several compound sentences in original publication. It’s an imperfect world and so are fourth drafts.
Sage to Meadow ~ Jack Matthews 