Weather, features and articles | Educational Science

Sep 9, 2014

Yosemite Wildfire Seen from Space (Photo)

After a dramatic growth spurt this week, a wildfire burning in California's Yosemite National Park forced hikers to evacuate and produced a billowing veil of smoke that can be seen from space. NASA's Earth-watching Aqua satellite saw Yosemite aflame on Sunday (Sept. 7) from its perch 450 miles (725 kilometers)...

Sep 17, 2014

Wildfire Prevention Costs Far Less Than Fires (Op-Ed)

Jeff Peterson is a research associate of the Arizona Rural Policy Institute at Northern Arizona University (NAU) where he specializes in economic impacts and data analysis. Peterson contributed this article to Live Science's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. The economics of wildfires are complex and grow more so as environmental...

May 5, 2015

Intense Wildfire Season Expected in West

Amid one the West’s worst droughts in centuries, more than 5,600 wildfires scorched more than 600,000 acres last year in California alone. It could happen again. With drought showing signs of worsening across the West and Upper Midwest, the Forest Service anticipates that it may spend up to $1.6 billion...

Jan 28, 2016

Wildfires Are Burning Some of the World’s Oldest Trees

Northwest Tasmania is home to part of the Gondwana forest. It's a stretch of primeval-looking temperate rainforest, much like the one found in the Pacific Northwest's Olympic National Park. Trees more than 1,000 years old tower above ancient ferns, forming a connection to the distant past. It's why the region...

May 17, 2016

Australian Wildfires Provide Surprise Boon for Hunting Cats

Radio collars and video cameras are helping conservationists in Australia track the habits of feral cats better than ever before, improving scientists' understanding of the animals' hunting habits. And while developing a clearer picture of the cats' movements, researchers have discovered that the feral felines are benefitting from an unexpected...

Aug 18, 2016

Sprawling Blue Cut Wildfire in California Spied by NASA Satellites

As a wildfire blazes through a mountain pass in Southern California, two NASA satellites were able to snap photos of the smoke from space. The Blue Cut fire, named after the hiking trail where the blaze began, has been spreading through the mountains and deserts east of Los Angeles since...

Sep 26, 2016

Burn Scar from Massive Australian Wildfire Visible from Space

A burn scar left by a wildfire in Western Australia is so massive, it's visible from space, according to images captured by a NASA satellite. But fires that leave immense scars in their wake — such as this one in the Gibson Desert, just 50 miles (80 kilometers) southwest of...

Nov 29, 2016

Gatlinburg Burning: How a Tennessee Wildfire Spread So Fast

Great Smoky Mountain National Park is closed, and thousands of residents in the nearby towns of Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, have fled their homes after a wildfire from the park turned into a rapidly spreading inferno last night (Nov. 28). At least 14,000 people have evacuated from the two...

Feb 6, 2017

Brilliant Fireball Streaks Over Milwaukee, Wows Skywatchers (Videos)

A brilliant, bright-green meteor blazed through the sky just north of Milwaukee early this morning (Feb. 6), and likely sprinkled space rocks into Lake Michigan. The falling space rock likely burned up in the sky about 10 to 20 miles (16 to 32 kilometers) north of Milwaukee, or about 100...

Aug 9, 2017

Rare Wildfires Burning in Greenland Seen from Space

Trees are scarce in Greenland, which makes the island an unexpected site for the wildfires currently burning near the island's west coast. First observed on July 31 by instruments aboard NASA satellites, wildfires continue to blaze in western Greenland, 85 miles (137 kilometers) from Greenland's second-largest city, Sisimiut. This image,...

Oct 10, 2017

Wildfires Blaze in Northern California (Photos)

Multiple fires (Image credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty)Today (Oct. 10), in California, firefighting efforts continued against multiple wildfires that began on the evening of Oct. 8 and quickly spread to consume 115,000 acres, causing at least 13 deaths, hospitalizing over 100 people, and forcing an estimated 20,000 people to evacuate, the New...

Oct 12, 2017

Inferno Down Below: Satellites Reveal Burning California Wildfires

Multiple fires in California produce plumes of smoke that are visible to satellites. (Image credit: CIRA)Plumes of dense, gray smoke rise from deadly wildfires burning across multiple locations in California, in a striking animation of satellite images shared online Tuesday (Oct. 10) by the Cooperative Institute for Research in the...

Oct 13, 2017

California's Spreading Wildfires: What Are Katabatic Winds?

While the cause of 21 separate wildfires blazing across eight counties in northern California remains unknown, their rapid spread is tragically familiar. Many of California's fiercest wildfires occur in September and October, owed in part to a powerful seasonal weather pattern known as katabatic winds — an annual threat that...

Dec 6, 2017

Here's Why the Ventura Wildfire Is So Explosive

A disastrous combination of tinder-dry vegetation, the strongest Santa Ana winds in a decade and a spark caused a wildfire to explode in Ventura County, California, north of Los Angeles, overnight Monday (Dec. 4). Less than 24 hours later, the blaze had torn through more than 45,000 acres and destroyed...

Dec 7, 2017

Raging Southern California Wildfires Seen from Space (Photos)

Satellite photos show just how big and destructive the Southern California wildfires have become. A dramatic image captured Tuesday (Dec. 5) by the European Space Agency's Sentinel-2 spacecraft, for example, reveals a massive burn scar just east of the city of Ventura, along with areas of active fires. Smoke billows...