Mother Jones
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This story first appeared on the Atlantic Cities website and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.
How intense are the wildfires blazing in Oregon and California? Let’s answer that question with a photo, snapped in late July by Marvin Vetter of the Oregon Department of Forestry, showing a dang-blasted “firenado” swirling above a sea of burning trees:
This example of “extreme fire behavior” (to use the forestry department’s words) went down in the Douglas Complex wildfire, one of several conflagrations turning conifers to cinders in southern Oregon. The intensity of fires in this sector of the country, which is locked in a stubborn drought, is strong enough that nearby towns and cities are getting covered with big, lung-painting plumes of ashy air.
On Tuesday evening, the state’s environmental department noted that the area around Medford (metropolitan population: 207,000) had an “unhealthy” air quality index of 151, meaning that anybody outdoors could incur “serious health effects,” according to Oregon Smoke. (That includes bees, for the honey-industry experts reading.) The cities of Klamath Falls and Bend enjoyed “moderate” pollution, and a several hours’ drive northward, Portland residents could breathe easy with “good” air quality.
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