On July 24, 2024, lightning ignited what became known as the Wapiti fire in central Idaho.
On July 24, 2024, lightning ignited what became known as the Wapiti fire in central Idaho. Fire activity ramped up in late August, expanding its footprint to over 100,000 acres (400 square kilometers) by early September. The Wapiti fire, as well as the Middle Fork Complex fires burning nearby, have spurred evacuation orders and highway and public lands closures.
The OLI (Operational Land Imager) on Landsat 8 acquired these images of fire activity on August 31, 2024, at about 12:30 p.m. local time (18:30 Universal Time). Thick smoke fills the valleys, while plumes from active blazes drift to the north. At this point, the Wapiti fire, on the right side of the image, had reached about 95,000 acres, and its perimeter was uncontained. Fires in the Middle Fork Complex, which spanned about 55,000 acres on this date, burn on the left side of the image.
On the morning of August 31, a temperature inversion—a warm layer of air capping a cooler one—trapped smoke in low-lying areas. Inversions can suppress fire activity by preventing sunlight and heat from reaching the ground. According to InciWeb, forecasters expected the inversion to lift around noon, with the potential for fire behavior to increase after that.
Read more at: NASA Earth Observatory
Photo Credit: Michala Garrison/NASA
