Our Disaster and Fires in the U.S. West

We're still recovering from this "Derecho" that spawned 90 mph winds and a 100 mile line of severe thunderstorms- There were millions of people who lost power from Illinois to Maryland. Fortunately, our power returned yesterday at 2pm. Here's a photo of tree damage on our street. There were countless trees taken down all over our town alone.

 On the other side of the country, fires are raging out of control in many states. Our friends Don and Cathleen narrowly escaped the Waldo Canyon Fire in Colorado Springs last week, and we're grateful that their house still stands. Today at work I put together this satellite image and caption about those fires.

credit: NASA

NASA Sees Many Western U.S. Fires

NASA's Terra satellite passed over the U.S. west and captured an image of heat from several fires and their plumes of smoke over Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah and South Dakota. Smoke from these fires also moved over Kansas and Nebraska.

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument onboard Terra has infrared capabilities that can detect heat from the various wildfires. The image was captured on July 2, 2012 at 18:10 UTC (2:10 p.m. EDT). In the MODIS images, fires, or hot spots are color coded as red areas in imagery and smoke appears in light brown. Images are generated at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

In eastern Montana, the Ash Creek Complex Fire is located in the Custer National Forest. As of July 2, it had burned 170,000 acres and was 40 percent contained.

In Wyoming, smoke from the Fontenelle Fire, Arapho Fire and Oil Creek Fires are evident on the NASA imagery. As of July 3, the Fontenelle fire has consumed 52,386 acres according to the U.S. Forest Service. The Arapaho Fire has consumed 82,187 acres and is now 10 percent contained, according to inciweb.org.

In Colorado, the Waldo Canyon Fire continues to burn, but most of the smoke plume is obscured by clouds. The Waldo Canyon Fire has consumed 17,920 acres and the U.S. Forest Service calls it the most destructive in Colorado history, with 346 homes lost. It is now 70 percent contained.

In Utah, the Wood Hollow fire continues to generate smoke seen by NASA satellites. The fire has consumed 47,387 acres as of July 3, 2012 and is now 100 percent contained.

In South Dakota there are two fires burning: The Highlands Fire and the White Draw wildfires, both in the southwestern part of the state. The Highlands Fire is located about 14 miles southeast of Newcastle, WY and consumed 394 acres. The fire is 60 percent contained. The White Draw wildfire was estimated at over 7000 acres and growing, according to Inciweb on July 3, 2012.

Image: Jeff Schmaltz, NASA Goddard MODIS Rapid Response Team; Caption: Rob Gutro, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center