NASA Vancouver Fire thumbnail
(Click for NASA image)

Vancouver, B.C. drew the eyes of a record 20 million viewers yesterday, as the U.S. Women’s Soccer team won the FIFA Women’s World Cup. But, not to be outdone, Mother Nature put on a pretty amazing show of her own.

The stadium was shrouded in smoke from two nearby wildfires, which collectively grew by 73,000 acres in just 24 hours. NASA today revealed a satellite image, taken yesterday, showing smoke from the massive blazes drifting toward Western Washington and the Puget Sound Region.

Members of the GeekWire team, attending the World Cup Final, noticed and smelled the wildfires during the match on Sunday. The haze blanketed much of Vancouver, and was visible into the Blaine and Bellingham areas of Washington state.

There are currently 178 fires burning in British Columbia, causing widespread air quality advisories and evacuations.

“Almost all of the lower mainland, most of the Vancouver Island, and big areas of northeastern and central B.C. are in extreme fire danger rating,” Provincial Fire Information Officer Kevin Skrepnek told Global News. “It’s unusual for this time of year [and] there’s no relief in sight in the weather forecast.”

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