Nearly 180 square miles of California’s wine country have been destroyed from wildfires. Over 2,000 structures have been destroyed causing massive evacuations in Napa, Sonoma and Mendocino counties. At least 15 people have died from the fires while another 150 people are still missing. Approximately 99,000 people are without power in the area. California’s Governor Jerry Brown has declared a state of emergency for Napa, Sonoma and Yuba counties. The fire started late Sunday night due to a series of lightning strikes rapidly growing from just 200 acres to over 68 square miles in less than 24 hours. Due to low surface dewpoints and strong winds, the fire was able to grow very quickly. Winds were measured at 60 mph in some areas of California. Unfortunately, dry conditions will persist at least through the next 5 days. Reports are noting that fires are 0% contained as of currently. Smoke from the fires is expanding into the surrounding areas that could cause difficulty breathing and low visibility. People traveling through or residing in the area should remain vigilant and heed the warnings. People should refrain from adding to the fires such as starting new fires.
The following is a statement from NASA describing the image above:
“NASA's Aqua satellite collected this natural-color image with the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, MODIS, instrument on October 09, 2017. Actively burning areas (hot spots), detected by MODIS’s thermal bands, are outlined in red. Each hot spot is an area where the thermal detectors on the MODIS instrument recognized temperatures higher than background. When accompanied by plumes of smoke, as in this image, such hot spots are diagnostic for fire. NASA image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz LANCE/EOSDIS MODIS Rapid Response Team, GSFC.”
Come back for more updates on the Californian wildfires here!
ⓒ 2017 Meteorologist Brandie Cantrell