Environmental Impacts:

• As of today, November 26, the Corral Fire has burned 4,720 acres and is 40% contained with 1,826 firefighters currently battling the blaze.

• The wildfire has burned more than 50 homes so far, but it expected to be contained tomorrow, November 27.

• Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger reactivated a state of emergency he declared for last month's devastating California wildfires, pledging he would make quickly available resources to affected Californians.

• It is suspected that a campfire set by people "partying" in the woods may have started the wildfire in the early hours of November 24.

• As fall progresses, cold air begins to sink into the Great Basin deserts to the east of California. As the air piles up at the surface, high pressure builds, and the air begins to flow downslope toward the coast. When winds blow downslope, the air gets compressed, which causes it to warm and dry out.  Not only do the winds spread the fire, but they also dry out vegetation, making it even more flammable.

• Santa Ana winds are a California firefighter’s nightmare. These blustery, dry, and often hot winds blow out of the desert and race through canyons and passes in the mountains on their way toward the coast. The air is hot not because it is bringing heat from the desert, but because it is flowing downslope from higher elevations.

Supplementary Material:

NASA's TERRA Satellite:

• The Terra spacecraft (formally known as EOS-AM) was successfully launched on Saturday, December 19, 1999 at the Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB) in Lompoc, California. It is flying at an altitude of 705 km (438 miles) observing the Earth. The life expectancy of the Terra mission is 6 years. It will be followed in later years by other EOS spacecraft that take advantage of new developments in remote sensing technologies.