The wildfires ravaging the western U.S. and Canada are now visible from space, wild satellite images show , with the smoke billowing across the nation into the Plains, Midwest and even Northeast, leaving some remembering the haze that covered New York City and other areas last year from other Canadian wildfires.
The fires are being described as quick-moving, with satellites owned and operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) tracking the hotspots of the fires and monitoring the smoke plumes constantly, according to Space.com .
Fox Weather reported that the smoke is leading to hazy skies across wide swaths of the nation and could degrade air quality in some areas. The outlet noted that air quality dropped to "moderate ranges" in areas of the Plains and Midwest on Thursday morning.
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The worst drop in air quality was reported in the Northwest, specifically in eastern Oregon, where the publication reported that several "megafires" have already scorched over 100,000 acres each.
The smoky haze even reached New York City on Thursday, which is over 2,000 miles from the fires. The sky appeared hazy for much of the day, with the sun peaking through the smog occasionally — it hung high up, however, mimicking clouds instead of the fog-like haze the wildfires last year brought, turning the air orange.
Smoke is expected to continue lowering air quality across the U.S. for the next several days, including across the East. According to the FOX Forecast Center, more smoke is expected to enter the U.S. from Canada's south, which the center said would be "more noticeable" than Thursday's haze.
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The fires currently don't show signs of stopping, and there are expected to be several more rounds of smoke over the next several days and weeks. There are reportedly around 90 fires burning across the U.S. West Coast, and nearly 22,000 firefighters are battling those blazes, Fox Weather reported.
Space.com reported that Jasper National Park, the largest national park in the Canadian Rockies, evacuated thousands of residents and tourists after the fires blew through the southern portion of the community.
There were reportedly "significant losses" across the area in the form of structures burned to the ground. A couple of nearby towns were evacuated, too, it was reported, with those fires beginning on Monday.
The satellite images showing the movement of the smoke were reportedly taken by the Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) instrument aboard NOAA's GOES-R satellites, which use different spectral bands and wavelengths on the instruments' channels to pick up smoke signals and identify wildfire hotspots.
The images then allow firefighters to pinpoint the location of said hotspots as they track the growth or decline of each wildfire phenomenon. And that, Space.com reported, can help improve forecasts, which in turn allow the authorities to make evacuation decisions in a more timely manner.
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