Wildfire smoke visible one million miles away - Earth.com

Wildfire smoke visible one million miles away

Wildfire smoke visible one million miles away. Today’s Image of the Day from NASA Earth Observatory shows the extent of wildfire smoke produced by dozens of wildfires in Oregon and California. The smoke is so thick that it is visible one million miles away from Earth. 

The photo was captured on September 9, 2020 by NASA’s Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) on NOAA’s DSCOVR satellite.Wildfire smoke visible one million miles away

The 2020 Oregon wildfire season was one of the most destructive on record in the state of Oregon. The season is a part of the 2020 Western United States wildfire season. The fires killed at least 10 people, burned more than 1,000,000 acres (400,000 ha) of land, and destroyed hundreds of homes.

The Oregon Department of Forestry declared fire season beginning on July 5, 2020, signaling the end of unregulated debris burning outdoors, a major cause of wildfires.

In early September, unusually high winds and continued dry weather caused the rapid expansion of multiple wildfires in Oregon. Over 1,000,000 acres were burned, and about 40,000 people were evacuated, with about 500,000 people in evacuation warning areas. The cities of Phoenix and Talent in Oregon were substantially destroyed by the Almeda Drive Fire. State-wide, at least 7 people have been killed. In the Almeda Fire area — between Ashland, Talent, and Phoenix — more than 2,800 structures were destroyed. Around the South Obenchain Fire, which stretched from Shady Cove nearly to Butte Falls, 153 structures were lost. Sheriff Sickler said that these numbers do not differentiate between homes, businesses, outbuildings, and other structures. Assessing the precise nature of those structures lost will fall to local teams in the days and weeks ahead

 

Image Credit: NASA Earth Observatory 

By Chrissy Sexton, Earth.com Staff Writer

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