English: Drought and warm temperatures continued across much of the Western United States in early autumn 2022, spurring the continuation of a very active wildfire season. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired a true-color image of multiple fires burning across northwestern Montana on October 13, 2022.

At least a half-dozen active wildfires, each marked by a red “hot spot” are visible in this image. Heavy smoke pours from several fires in the Lewis Range, southeast of Flathead Lake. Another plume of gray wildfire smoke rises from fire in the Purcell Mountains. The plumes blow strongly to the east, evidence of strong wind.

According to the MTfireinfo.org website, on October 15 there were 29 wildfires over 100 acres actively burning in Montana, with one new start on that date. There were 35 wildfires during the previous seven days, and 1,976 wildfires reported in Montana so far in 2022.