Smoke billowed from a fire in the forests of western Wyoming in early October 2024.
Smoke billowed from a fire in the forests of western Wyoming in early October 2024. High winds and low humidity helped the Pack Trail fire spread over 60,000 acres, forcing people to evacuate from cabins, homes, and ranches west of Dubois, Wyoming, according to local news reports.
Lightning ignited the fire on September 15, and it continued to burn over three weeks later in both the Bridger-Teton National Forest and the Shoshone National Forest. By October 6, gusty winds of up to 60 miles (97 kilometers) per hour helped the fire spread 7 miles eastward, chewing through timber on the slopes near South Fork Fish Creek. This image, acquired by the MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) instrument on NASA’s Aqua satellite, shows smoke streaming from the region on October 7.
Smoke darkened the air of valleys and towns both east and west of the blaze. As it flowed into the valley of Jackson Hole, the smoke prompted hazardous air quality alerts in Grand Teton National Park and elevated air quality concerns elsewhere. In downtown Jackson, 30 miles west of the fire, particulate matter made the air “unhealthy” on October 8 and 9, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s AirNow Fire and Smoke Map. To the east of the flames, the smaller town of Dubois also had “unhealthy” air on those days.
Read more at NASA Earth Observatory
Image: NASA Earth Observatory images by Wanmei Liang, using VIIRS data from NASA EOSDIS LANCE, GIBS/Worldview, and the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership; and MODIS data from NASA EOSDIS LANCE and GIBS/Worldview.
