Smoke Over Helena

October 07, 2003


Smoke_2003 copy

Provided by: Kent Barnes, Montana Department of Transportation
Summary authors & editors: Kent Barnes; Martin Ruzek

The image on the left is the view looking across the Helena valley of Montana on August 14, 2003. Smoke from forest fires blanketed the city. Most of this smoke is from fires more than 100 miles (160 km) away. The right image is the normal view after the smoke lifted. As of September 1, 2.7 million acres (1.1 million ha) had burned in the US, considerably down from last year's 6.3 million acres (2.5 million ha) on the same date. Montana alone has seen over 400,000 acres (160,000 ha) burn this season.

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