The devastation happening on the west coast from over 29 major wildfires is heartbreaking to see. According to CNN, 3.3 million acres have burned in California alone this year. Smoke has blanketed cities like San Francisco, leaving them dark and cold with an eerie red glow in the sky making them look like a scene out of Blade Runner.

This all seems so far away from us here in Maine, but is it possible that we'll see the effects of these fires here in Maine? According to recent forecast data from NASA, we very well may.

In addition to regular weather maps like cloud cover, rainfall and humidity levels, NASA also puts out carbon monoxide maps along with forecasts. The amount of smoke being put into the air from the west coast fires is affected just like clouds and meteorologists are able to forecast where smoke from these fires will travel in the next several days.

A forecast map published by NASA is predicting that we will indeed see smoke from the California skies over Maine and all of New England over the next week and it may arrive as early as Tuesday, September 15.

NASA
NASA
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If you put the map in motion by clicking on it in this tweet by the National Weather Service in Boise, you'll see we get two waves of the smoke, one beginning Tuesday that clears out after a few days to be followed by the second mass of smoke on the 21st. If you have trouble seeing the full animation, you can view it on NASA's website.

What we might experience here is nothing compared to what people on the west coast are going through, but it shows you just how massive these fires are and how they can affect things on a global level.

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