NASA MODIS Image of the Day: September 7, 2011 – Fires in Texas and Oklahoma
Late summer in Texas and western Oklahoma is often hot and dry, but the summer of 2011 has been extremely dry, hot and windy, conditions that allow fires to grow aggressively and blaze out of control.
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard the Terra satellite captured this image of dozens of wildfires burning in the starkly tan (dry) land of Texas and Oklahoma on September 5, 2011.
InciWeb Incident Information System reported that from August 29 through September 9, local fire departments in Texas fought 127 fires for 2,571 acres and the Texas Forest Service fought 178 fires for 74,156 acres. Although over 400 homes had been lost in that time, about 2,660 homes had been reported as saved from the flames. On September 4, 63 new blazes sprang to life, burning 32,936 acres. Since January 1, 2011, over 3,500,000 acres in Texas have been destroyed by fire. The large blaze in southwestern Oklahoma is the Ferguson Fire, burning in the Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge. As of September 6, that fire burned 38,921 acres in steep and rocky terrain and was 60% contained. A large cluster of several wildfires west of Houston can be seen in the image as a very large bright red hotspot with a large plume of smoke blowing far to the south in strong wind. Some of the fires included in the cluster are the Delhi, Union Chapel, Lutherhill, Spicewood, and the Bastrop County Complex wildfires. Although the reason for ignition of many of these fires are still under investigation, the fires are fed by extremely dry conditions, high temperatures and strong winds. On September 5, most of the fires were estimated at high risk of growth, due to the extreme environmental conditions. By September 6, the winds had decreased and temperatures somewhat reduced in some of the areas, and making some progress in containment possible, but conditions remained favorable for fire growth. On September 1, the U.S. Drought Monitor released a map of drought conditions across the United States. That map classified most of Texas and Oklahoma as under D4 Drought conditions, or “exceptional” drought, which is more severe than “extreme” drought. The U.S. Drought Monitor also predicted another week of abnormal temperatures in the region – up to 14°F above normal, with highs over 110°F in many areas, accompanied by sunny skies. On September 1, the 180-day rainfall deficits exceeded 14 inches in southwestern Oklahoma and north-central Texas and were locally in excess of 20 inches near Houston. Scattered and mostly light showers offered little if any relief from drought.
