Smoke from California, Colorado wildfires has blanketed skies all the way to Kansas

Wildfires raging in California and Colorado have blanketed most of the West in smoke, which has reached as far away as Kansas, the National Weather Service says.

Lightning-sparked fires have burned more than 1.1 million acres in California and killed at least seven people, CNN reported. More than 13,000 firefighters are battling hundreds of blazes.

In Colorado, four major fires have blackened nearly 200,000 acres, according to Colorado Public Radio.

Satellite images show thick smoke covering most of the United States west of the Mississippi River, except for Washington, Forbes reported.

“This amount of smoke is extremely unusual,” said Michael Garay, an air quality researcher at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, according to the publication. “The amount of smoke is due to both the large number of individual fires, as well as large ‘fire complexes,’ which are extremely large fires.”

The haze has reached as far as northwest Kansas, reported The San Francisco Chronicle. It could eventually spread into the southeastern United States.

“That’s a lot of smoke to be traveling that far east,” said Matt Gerard, lead forecaster of the National Weather Service in Dodge City, Kansas, according to the newspaper.

“We’ve had some pretty bright red sunrises and sunsets, and the smoke up in the atmosphere coming overhead really gives the sky a grayish look,” Gerald said, The San Francisco Chronicle reported.

When air quality reaches hazardous levels, everyone should avoid all outside activities, the California Air Resources Board advises.

This story was originally published August 24, 2020 at 7:31 AM with the headline "Smoke from California, Colorado wildfires has blanketed skies all the way to Kansas."