The massive Bootleg Fire in Oregon has scorched an area larger than Los Angeles, and it’s only 30% contained. The fire is so large and is burning so hot that it’s creating its own weather.
It’s just one of the many blazes raging in the West; the National Interagency Fire Center is watching 80 large fires across 13 states this week – a testament to just how destructive the US wildfire season has become…And the effects of the fires stretch all the way to the East Coast…
In some areas, the smoke has reached the ground level, where it can be a health concern. Air quality alerts have been issued hundreds of miles from the flames, as far east as Pennsylvania and New York.
Never seen it this bad in New Mexico in all the years I’ve lived here.
“See How Wildfire Smoke Spread Across America” (NYT interactive) https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/07/21/climate/wildfire-smoke-map.html
Source for animation: Global Systems Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration NOAA HRRR-Smoke [near surface smoke July 18~21, 2021]
See NOAA – GSL Data Visualization https://hwp-viz.gsd.esrl.noaa.gov/smoke/index.html#
“Wildfire smoke can drift across the country. Here’s how to protect yourself” https://news.yahoo.com/wildfire-smoke-drift-across-country-125026987.html
Wildfire smoke contains dangerous pollutants that include hazardous gases and particulate matter – solid particles and liquid droplets that are produced when wildfires burn through buildings, trees and other materials. While some particulate matter can be easily seen in the form of soot, smoke also carries smaller, invisible particles.
Health experts are especially worried about this smaller particulate matter, known as PM 2.5, as these minuscule particles can bypass the defense mechanisms of the upper airway and cause damage deep within the lungs. Some of the smallest particles may even be able to pass into the bloodstream and travel to other organs.
Scores of wildfires raging across the Western United States’ forest and scrub have belched so much smoke that it is helping an army of firefighters gain ground on the nation’s biggest blaze, Oregon’s Bootleg fire, by blocking sunlight, officials said on Saturday. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-weather-wildfires/so-called-smoke-shade-from-other-wildfires-helps-crews-fight-biggest-u-s-blaze-idUSKBN2EU0NL?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews
The presence of wildfire smoke last year during the pandemic may have been responsible for at least 19,000 additional coronavirus cases on the West Coast, and 700 subsequent deaths, a new study shows.
The study, published Friday in the journal Science Advances, offers the most detailed accounting yet of how the devastating 2020 wildfire season is believed to have amplified the coronavirus outbreak. It traces increases in infections to periods of smoke in more than 50 counties in California, Oregon and Washington.
While a correlation between wildfire smoke and COVID-19 doesn’t prove causation, the study’s authors say the tie is no coincidence. https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Wildfire-smoke-linked-to-thousands-of-COVID-19-16385466.php#photo-21351117
“Excess of COVID-19 cases and deaths due to fine particulate matter exposure during the 2020 wildfires in the United States” https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/7/33/eabi8789
“Northern Hemisphere summer wildfires emit record amount of CO2 : Blazes in North America and the Mediterranean prompt spike in planet-warming emissions, EU’s Earth monitoring service says.” https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/9/22/northern-hemisphere-summer-wildfires-emit-record-amount-of-co2