Environment

Choking Clouds of Wildfire Smoke Sprawl Over Southern Oregon

Huge wildfires, aggravated by a bad drought, are sending acrid clouds of smoke into nearby cities.
NASA

How intense are the wildfires blazing in Oregon and California? Let's answer that question with a photo, snapped in late July by Marvin Vetter of the Oregon Department of Forestry, showing a dang-blasted "firenado" swirling above a sea of burning trees:

This example of "extreme fire behavior" (to use the forestry department's words) went down in the Douglas Complex wildfire, one of several conflagrations turning conifers to cinders in southern Oregon. The intensity of fires in this sector of the country, which is locked in a stubborn drought, is strong enough that nearby towns and cities are getting covered with big, lung-painting plumes of ashy air.