More books on the Readings page. Forest fires rage in Montana while on the same day Hurricane Hector swirls in the Pacific, and a NASA satellite is an eyewitness to both. In the left image, huge smoke plumes rise from devastating wildfires in the Bitterroot Mountain Range near the Montana-Idaho border. Flathead Lake is near the upper left, and the Great Salt Lake is at the bottom right.
Smoke accumulating in the canyons and plains is also visible.
The wide extent of the smoke is evident from comparison with the image on the right, a view of Hurricane Hector acquired from MISR's nadir-viewing camera. The storm was beginning to weaken, and 24 hours later the National Weather Service downgraded Hector from a hurricane to a tropical storm. Back to the top of this page.