Wildfires are burning longer and more frequently in some northern latitudes due to climate change. Wildfires are often triggered by lightning, intentional land clearing, or human-caused accidents.
Higher than normal temperatures and drier than normal conditions are further exacerbating conditions.
Dixie Fire
The Dixie fire in Northern California, which started on July 13th, is currently the largest fire in the United States so far this year. As of August 10, 2021, the Dixie Fire has burned more than 487,764 acres and is only 25% contained.
The Dixie fire grew by 70,000 acres (110 square miles/280 square kilometers) from August 5 to 6, making it California’s third-largest fire ever.
This satellite image of the Dixie Fire was acquired on August 4th by the Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) on Landsat 7. The hottest and most active regions of the fire appear orange-yellow in the image.
The smoke from the Dixie Fire and other fires in the area has been blanketing much of the West Coast and nearby states.
This August 6, 2021 satellite image from the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite 17 (GOES-17) operated by NOAA shows smoke blanketing the western United States.
The content below was written on July 20, 2021:
Bootleg Fire
The largest wildfire currently burning in the United States is the Bootleg Fire in south-central Oregon near the city of Bend. Nearly two weeks after it started, Bootleg Fire has burned 467 square miles (1,209 square kilometers), roughly the size of the cities of Los Angeles or Phoenix.
The fire is so massive, it has generated its own weather and large pyrocumulonimbus (pyroCb) clouds can be seen emanating from the area.
This video shows a satellite view of the Bootleg Fire in southern Oregon. The white billowing clouds that erupt from the area are pyrocumulonimbus (pyroCb) clouds.
Canadian Fires
The recent heatwave that settle over much of the Pacific Northwest and Canada also created conditions that triggered multiple wildfires in Canada . On June 29, 2021, Lytton, British Columbia reached 121°F (49.6°C), the highest temperature ever recorded in Canada on any date.
By late June, more than 40 wildfires erupted across British Columbia. By July 8, the number had risen to more than 200 active fires across the Canadian province, with 15 of them classified as “wildfires of note” (especially large fires, or fires that threaten public safety).
This satellite image shows the formation of pyrocumulonimbus (pyroCb) clouds which can be seen as bright white areas above the McKay Creek fire and the Sparks Lake fire. Convection and heat rising from a fire create these towering clouds.
Since the beginning of July 2021, plumes of smoke have spread throughout the skies of Ontario as a result of a group of large wildfires burning along the border with Manitoba.
This satellite image from NASA shows parts of Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota that are now experiencing widespread smoke moving into the region from Canada. The smoke has prompted the Duluth office of the United States National Weather Service to issue an air quality alert for parts of northeastern Minnesota.
The smoke from the wildfires burning in Canada and the Pacific Northwest is so strong that parts of the Midwest and the East Coast are experiencing unhealthy air pollution levels from smoke. Smoke from 3,000 miles away has traveled to these regions of the United States and weather stations and news stations in the area were reporting smokey and hazy conditions on July 20, 2021.
This screenshot from PurpleAir, a crowdsourced Internet of Things app which maps air quality sensors across the United States, shows how parts of the United States are experiencing lower air quality due to smoke from these fires.
Wildfires in Arizona
Drought and extreme heat has also led to dozens of wildfires being triggered in part by dry lightening striking the parched landscapes of Arizona and New Mexico.
On June 21, 2021, NASA’s Aqua satellite’s Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) captured this natural-color image of smoke streaming from several large fires in Arizona.
This article was first created on July 20, 2021 and has recently been updated with new information.
Related
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- Causes of Wildfires in the United States
- How to View Animated Satellite Imagery of the California Wildfires
- Climate Change is Increasing Post-Wildfire Landslides in Southern California
- Three of Colorado’s Wildfires are the Largest in Recorded History for the State
- Google Adds Near Real-time Wildfire Boundaries to Search and Maps
