September 2, 2022 - Wildfires in the Western United States

Wildfires
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Scorching air temperatures, low humidity, and widespread drought
continue to fuel another vicious fire season in the Western United
States. With high temperatures expected to be near or over 100˚F
(37.8˚C) for the next several days, the National Weather Service (NWS)
has advised that much of Idaho will swelter under a Heat Advisory until
September 5, 2022. The sizzle also extends to portions of central,
north central, and northeast Oregon and central, south central and
southeast Washington, where the NWS has raised a Heat Advisory and Red
Flag Warning through September 2, with high temperatures expected to
hit 105˚F (40.6˚F). Excessive heat warnings span much of California
through September 6, especially Southern California, where temperatures
may reach 115˚F (46.1˚C).

High air temperatures dry vegetation and help fuel fires. According to
the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC), on September 1 there were
46 large, active fires burning across 5 states: 14 in Idaho, 10 in
Montana, 9 in Oregon, 6 in California, 4 in Washington, 1 in Utah, 1 in
Arizona, and 1 in Wyoming. These do not include medium or smaller
fires, and do count fires being handled as one “complex” fire as only
one fire. Five new large fires were reported on August 31 – one each in
California, Montana, Oregon, Wyoming, and Washington. These large,
active fires were burning on 302,460 acres. None of these fires had
been contained.

The NIFC also reports that from January 1, 2022, to September 1, 2022,
there had been 48,331 fires across the United States, and these fires
had burnt 6,153,171 acres. This is the largest number of fires for the
same time period in each of the last 10 years, although only the
fifth-largest number of acres destroyed.

On August 31, 2022, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer
(MODIS) on board NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired a true-color image of
dozens of fires burning across the American West. The image encompasses
part of southern Canada near the U.S. border, as well as all of Oregon
and Washington, most of Idaho, western Montana, part of northern
California, and northwestern Utah. Each red “hot spot” marks a location
that the thermal bands on the MODIS instrument detected high
temperatures. When combined with typical smoke, as in this image, such
hot spots are diagnostic for actively burning fire. In most areas,
thick plumes of smoke blow strongly to the northeast, suggesting windy
conditions.

Image Facts
Satellite: Aqua
Date Acquired: 8/31/2022
Resolutions: 1km (419.9 KB), 500m (1.4 MB), 250m (4.4 MB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC



https://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/individual.php?db_date=2022-09-02

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