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Record fires in Colorado: Lake Constance is not enough to describe the area affected
Photo: NASA Earth Observatory
Never before have such large fires in Colorado and California been documented as recently.
80 percent of the area in the western United States is currently experiencing drought of varying degrees, affecting 40 million people.
In the southwest the soils are particularly dry.
Sometimes thunderstorms set the dry vegetation on fire.
Rocky Mountain National Park has been closed to visitors.
Several fires protrude into his area.
The Nasa earth observation satellite "Suomi NPP" photographed the region on the border between the US states of Colorado and Wyoming from space on October 16.
The fires are particularly easy to see on the infrared image on the right.
The red areas show active fires.
The image on the left shows the region as it would appear in a normal photo.
Clouds of smoke reveal the existence of the fires.
Historical fire events
The picture shows the so-called Cameron Peak Fire in Colorado.
It is the largest fire ever recorded in the state.
It has been blazing since August 13th and burning through thick wood in the national forests of Arapaho and Roosevelt.
In mid-October, strong winds and persistently dry weather exacerbated the situation.
In the mountains to the west and northwest of Fort Collins and Estes Park, more than 800 square kilometers have already burned down.
That is roughly one and a half times the area of Lake Constance.
More than a thousand firefighters are on duty to fight the flames and have now brought about half of the fire under control.
However, strong winds and drought aggravated the situation again recently.
And the forecasts for this week do not bode well: In Colorado, no significant rain or snowfall is expected.
According to the US Drought Monitor, 100 percent of the state is in a state of drought, around 60 percent are extremely to exceptionally dry.
"The number of major fires and extreme fire behavior we've seen in our forests this year are historic," said Monte Williams of the United States Forest Service.
According to researchers, climate change also contributes to this through the increased occurrence of extreme weather conditions.
It is the second time in a few months that Colorado fires have broken records.
It was only in September that the so-called Pine Gulch Fire, with an area of more than 562 square kilometers, barely cracked an earlier high from 2002.
In 2002, around 558 square kilometers went up in flames at the Hayman Fire.
Burn scar in California
In California, too, huge fires left their mark this year.
On October 19, the Earth observation satellite "Landsat 8" documented the scars of the so-called August Complex fire in the north of the state (photo below).
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Scars of the complex fire: 90 percent under control
Photo: NASA Earth Observatory
The fire has still not been extinguished, but it is about 90 percent under control.
Thunderstorms had sparked it in mid-August.
Almost 4,200 square kilometers have been banned since then.
This is roughly one and a half times that of Saarland and the largest area that a fire in California has ever destroyed in one season.
Previously, the 2018 Mendocino Complex Fire was considered the largest in the state's history.
It had burned over an area of around 1900 square kilometers.
According to the authorities in California, there has been a total of around 16,700 square kilometers of fire in the state this year.
That roughly corresponds to the area of Thuringia.
More than 9,200 buildings were damaged or destroyed and 31 people died.
Five of the six largest fires in California history occurred in 2020.
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