Wild Fires Send 3,000-Kilometer Plume of Smoke Across Western Russia

This NASA satellite image shows a 3,000-kilometer plume of thick smoke traveling across central and western Russia as hundreds of wild fires burn in forests and peat bogs across the region. Russian officials said on Thursday there were at least 589 fires burning across the country, covering about 196,000 hectares (484,000 acres). Exacerbating the problem are temperatures reaching 100 degrees Fahrenheit. More than 50 people have died, and about one-fifth of Russia’s total grain harvest has been destroyed. Worst hit are the regions of Nizhny Novgorod, Voronezh, and Ryazan. The intense clouds of smoke have reached heights of 12 kilometers above the Earth’s surface, according to scientists, who note that at that height, the smoke is able to travel farther and affect air quality over greater distances. The massive smoke plume would reach from Chicago to San Francisco.