Fires in California
The large (74,000-acre) “Day Wildfire” was still burning in the Los Padre National Forest just northwest of Los Angeles on 17 September — the MODIS true-color image (above) shows the thick plumes of smoke drifting westward. Strong offshore winds helped the fire (which had been burning since 04 September) to grow quickly and spread to the west on this particular day. A QuickTime animation of GOES-11 visible images the following day (18 September) shows that the smoke began drifting in a more northwesterly to northerly direction as the surface winds gradually shifted direction.