Sky Turns Hellish Red As California, Washington & Oregon Burn From Wildfires

States of California, Oregon and Washington are going through hell as blazing wildfires are causing catastrophic damage to life and property.

Reuters

California has over 20 major wildfires burning 2.2 million hectares of land across the state. In fact, a fire caused in San Bernardino County, southeast of LA was caused after a pyrotechnic device went wrong at a gender reveal party, burning nearly 11,000 acres of land.

The state of Washington has seen more fires than it has seen in the past 12 fire seasons, according to Governor Jay Inslee. Fires have covered over 330,000 acres of land in just 24 hours.

In Oregon, the state¡¯s governor has gone ahead and declared an emergency with mandatory evacuation orders for thousands of residents. What started late Tuesday, in Almeda has now spread to regions of Medford, which is home to over 80,000.

Winds with speeds up to 40 kilometres per hour are contributing to spreading the fire even further in Oregon. While much data hasn¡¯t been revealed with regards to the damages caused by the fires in Oregon, The Oregon Department of Forestry has estimated that the fire in Almeda has damaged up to 2500 to 3000 acres of land.

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Why have the skies turned red?

People from Oregon have been sharing images of skies that have turned bloody red, something straight out of a Stranger Things episode. While it might appear that we¡¯ve entered hell (the way humans are treating the environment this was expected sooner or later), there is actually a scientific phenomenon behind this called light scattering.

Associate Professor Koh Tieh Yong, of the Singapore University of Social Sciences, explained this in a conversation with BBC regarding a similar wildfire that broke in Indonesia. Normally, when light rays hit Earth¡¯s surface it goes through nitrogen and oxygen molecules that make the light bounce off in every direction. The short wavelengths of blue light are more easily scattered by small objects, hence we see the sky as blue in the daytime.

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In a situation like the one we¡¯ve seen in Oregon when the fire burns trees and everything in its way, it releases particles. These smoke particles are larger than the gas molecules of nitrogen and oxygen. Because of this, they end up scattering the longer red wavelengths instead and with smoke particles in such intensity, it overpowers the blue or Rayleigh scattering, making skies red.