Satellite Images Show the Ongoing Wildfire Devastation in Southern California
Satellite Images Show the Ongoing Wildfire Devastation in Southern California
06 December 2017
Published by https://earther.com
USA – Beginning Monday night, dry conditions combined with the most intense Santa Ana wind event of the year started a massive series of wildfires just north of Los Angeles in what has already been California’s most destructive wildfire year.
The only thing big enough to halt the fire’s advance was the Pacific Ocean, which it reached on Tuesday night after jumping the 101 freeway. However, its fiery tentacles have fanned out along the coast and further inland with firefighters still fighting to get a handle on it.
It’s pretty abnormal to have fires this intense in December as the state enters its wet season. But freakishly dry conditions the past few months and winds gusting to more than 50 mph have fanned flames. Extreme fire weather is expected to remain in place for at least the next week.
As firefighters struggle on the ground, satellites have been tracking the growing pattern of devastation from space. Pierre Markuse, a satellite image processor, shared a series images made using data captured by the European Space Agency Sentinel-2 and NASA Terra satellites. Check out some of his work below, which makes the widespread destruction painfully clear.