NCAR's Peggy LeMone reflects on the power of fire in the Rocky Mountain West and on her own encounter with a destructive wildfire that torched more than 100 homes in September 2010.

A team of scientists led by NCAR’s Keith Oleson has incorporated urban areas into a global climate model. The development is important because most models used for predicting future climate change do not account for the urban “heat island” effect.

On December 20, 2008, a Boeing 737 with Continental Airlines encountered a crosswind gust during takeoff at Denver International Airport, causing it to veer off the runway. Simulations done at NCAR indicate that a mountain lee wave amplified over DIA within minutes of the accident.

The wildfire that erupted in the foothills west of Boulder in September 2010 sent a thick plume of smoke right over NCAR’s chemistry labs. Even as their offices smelled of smoke, scientists took measurements from the roof.

The new research has implications for satellite orbits.