[eric_b]

Appears to be forest fire season in the US again.

The southwest and parts of the west must be fairly
dry. There appear to be a number of fires burning.

Starting yesterday (June 12) a lot of smoke starting
wafting off Texas into the Gulf. Check out these
images from today (June 13).





In the last image you can see the plume from one
decent sized fire in Colorado. I'm not certain
where the smoke in the gulf is coming from. It
appears to be moving across Texas before reaching
the gulf. Perhaps someone living in Texas or
the southwest can comment?

[green_achers]

http://www.nifc.gov/fireinfo/nfn.html

Year-to-date:
2006 (1/1/06 - 6/13/06) Fires: 50,768 Acres: 2,876,122
2005 (1/1/05 - 6/13/05) Fires: 26,309 Acres: 462,738
2004 (1/1/04 - 6/13/04) Fires: 34,383 Acres: 618,669
2003 (1/1/03 - 6/13/03) Fires: 23,368 Acres: 437,598
2002 (1/1/02 - 6/13/02) Fires: 33,971 Acres: 1,405,954
2001 (1/1/01 - 6/13/01) Fires: 36,667 Acres: 761,625
2000 (1/1/00 - 6/13/00) Fires: 44,730 Acres: 1,217,122

Looks significantly more active than recent years. We're in a bad drought here in the southeast.