US: Highest No. of Wildfires (y-t-d)
US Wildfires: 50-percent more fires than the 10 year average
Fueled by dry weather (drought conditions) and wind, between January 1, 2011 and March 1, 2011 at least 9,760 fires consumed more than 230,000 acres. [10-year average: 6,205 fires; 153,877 acres]
States currently reporting large fires:
- Florida
- Texas
- Virginia
- New Mexico
- Total no of new and active large fires: ~ 45
National Fire Activity:
- Initial attack activity: Moderate (271 new fires)
- New large fires: 7
- Large fires contained: 14
- Uncontained large fires: 12
Active Fire Mapping: USDA Forest Service. Click image to enlarge.
Wildfires have destroyed at least 80 homes in Texas and scorched some 300 square kilometers.
“From Feb. 21 through Feb. 28, the Texas Forest Service responded to 63 fires on nearly 140,000 acres — mostly in the Panhandle and Rolling Plains.” Source
Destroyed by Wildfire:
- Potter County, north of Amarillo: 30,000 acres and 30 homes
- Motley County: 40,000 acres consumed, and the entire town of Matador had to be evacuated
Fire bans were imposed in 144 Texas counties as of Feb. 28, the Forest Service reported.
MODIS Rapid Response System Global Fire Maps
Latest fire map available: 02/20/11 – 03/01/11 (2011051-2011060). Each of these fire maps accumulates the locations of the fires detected by MODIS on board the Terra and Aqua satellites over a 10-day period. Each colored dot indicates a location where MODIS detected at least one fire during the compositing period. Color ranges from red where the fire count is low to yellow where number of fires is large. The compositing periods are referenced by their start and end dates (julian day). The duration of each compositing period was set to 10 days. Compositing periods are reset every year to make year-to-year comparisons straightforward. The first compositing period of each year starts on January 1. The last compositing period of each year includes a few days from the next year. SOURCE: MODIS . Click image to enlarge.
Large Wildfires in Florida
Three large wildfires burning out of control in eastern Florida forced the authorities to close major routes, including Highway 1 and Interstate 95 on February 28, 2011 as MODIS on NASA’s Aqua satellite took this image. SOURCE: NASA-EO. Click image to enlarge.
MODIS on NASA’s Aqua satellite detected fires burning in southern Texas and Louisiana on March 1, 2011. Source: NASA-EO. Click image to enlarge.
Related News Links:
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