Environmental Impacts:

• Strong winds on August 4 created uncontrollable firestorms that forced the evacuation of at least two communities in Montana.

• Fires in Montana and Idaho are marked with red dots in the upper-left part of the image of the whole US. In addition to fueling the flames, the winds blew dense plumes of smoke northeast. The thickest plumes rise from the fires in northwestern Montana. By the time the smoke reached eastern Montana, the plumes were no longer distinct. The air was clouded with a soupy, gray haze that curves north into Canada. High-level winds pushed the smoke south over the western Great Lakes, and into the Central and Southern United States. From the bank of clouds over Illinois to the Gulf of Mexico, the air was white-gray with haze.

• By this point, smoke from the western wildfires is probably only one component of the haze. High temperatures and stagnant air also amplified the impact of urban pollution, creating Code Orange air quality conditions, which are unhealthy for sensitive groups such as active children or adults or individuals with respiratory ailments. The jet stream—the fast-moving, high-level winds that steer weather systems—is defined by the stark boundary between the hazy air over the Mid-Atlantic and the clear air over New England. Jet stream winds are clearly blocking the smoke from traveling north.

• From the Central United States, the plume of pollution snaked over the Mid-Atlantic States and the Chesapeake Bay to the Atlantic Ocean, where it turned north and flowed along the coast. Some additional haze may line the coast south of Cape Hatteras, but reflected sunlight has turned the ocean’s surface into a mirror, effectively masking the presence of any haze.

• On Wednesday August 8, 2007 the air over parts of TN, NC, and GA were in code orange air quality condition, which is unhealthy for sensitive groups.

• According to National Weather Service, all Southeastern States are currently under Heat Advisories.

• The air quality condition in the city of Atlanta, GA was in code red, which is unhealthy for all residents.

• The cities of Charlotte, NC, Knoxville, TN, Atlanta, GA, are under excessive heat warnings.

Supplementary Material:

NASA's AQUA Satellite:

• Aqua, Latin for water, is a NASA Earth Science satellite mission collecting about the Earth's water cycle, including evaporation from the oceans, water vapor in the atmosphere, clouds, precipitation, soil moisture, sea ice, land ice, and snow cover on the land and ice. The Aqua spacecraft (formally known as EOS-PM) was successfully launched on May 4, 2002 at the Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB) in Lompoc, California. It is flying at an altitude of 705 km (438 miles) observing the Earth, and the life expectancy is 6 years. [Aqua's Orbit], [Animation of MODIS Observing the Earth]