Wildfire smoke: from Cariboo to Spokane

Smoke over the Pacific Northwest

NASA: Fires in British Columbia smothered parts of that province as well as Washington State with thick smoke on August 19, 2009. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Aqua satellite captured this true-color image the same day.

Near the top edge of the image is a cluster of red dots -- hotspots where MODIS detected unusually warm surface temperatures associated with wildfires. From these fires, smoke blows toward the southeast, and another thick plume hovers over Vancouver Island in the southwest. Both the island and the city of Vancouver are almost completely hidden by thick smoke. Skies also appear smoky over Seattle, and visible smoke travels as far as Spokane.