Western wildfires update: which zones have been affected?
Wildfires have been raging across the West Coast for several weeks leaving a trail of desctruction in California, Oregon and Washington.
For several weeks wildfires have been raging across the states of California, Washington and Oregon and such has been the ferocity of the blazes that smoke from the western states has now reached the Midwest and areas on the East Coast including New York and New England.
"Record-setting year for wildfires"
#VIIRS reveals incredibly thick #wildfire smoke over the #GreatLakes today, while #Sally reaches hurricane strength meandering over the northern Gulf of Mexico. NHC warns #HurricaneSally will approach the Louisiana coast tonight. More VIIRS imagery at https://t.co/yCNKCKyryx pic.twitter.com/JHf2D6Zz5c
— UW-Madison CIMSS (@UWCIMSS) September 14, 2020
The National Weather Service (NWS) said that hazy skies over the East Coast had originated from the devastating wildfires that have been burning across the western states. A Cal Fire spokesperson warned that a "record-setting year for wildfires is far from over.”
“This is smoke lofted well aloft in the atmosphere emanating from the Western US wildfires,” NWS Boston tweeted on Monday.
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With the smoke at roughly 25,000 feet it should not affect air quality on the ground according to forecasters and depending how thick the haze is, it could change the appearance of the sun making it look redder or more orange.
Wildfires in the West causing "major destruction"
[Hazy Skies - Smoke from Western Wildfires] Notice the sky is looking a little hazy? This is smoke lofted well aloft in the atmosphere emanating from the Western U.S. wildfires.
— NWS Boston (@NWSBoston) September 14, 2020
This "True Color" satellite loop depicts it well, with the thin opaque areas across New England: pic.twitter.com/6EqCXzlREG
The wildfires that have been burning in the Western states have killed at least 36 people and California, Oregon and Washington have seen over 4.6 million acres charred. The Golden State has seen the worst of the fires with some 3.2 million acres burned.
“A significant amount of land has been burned. We have had major destruction and even sadly, two dozen fatalities already and we still have several months to go in our fire season here,” said Daniel Berlant, a Cal Fire spokesperson.
Tens of thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes and the North Complex Fire has scorched roughly 261,488 acres, with fire fighters reporting the blaze is still barely 26 percent contained. Over 16,000 fire fighters have been battling the blazes since they erupted several weeks ago.