These clouds don't signal rain.
They are vast smoke plumes.
Yellowstone is burning throughout the summer.
The dry lodgepole pines have become like a tinderbox and lightning has struck the match.
The worst wildfires will burn for weeks.
In 1988, a third of Yellowstone burned in a single summer devastation.
Animals that depend on these forests will starve this winter.
But Yellowstone itself has a longer perspective.
Ashes fertilize the soil, and fire opens it up to sunlight.
As the forests regenerate, new life finds opportunity.
