Image: Fires overtake landscape in the Mississippi Valley

The Mississippi Valley (and total Southeast U.S. including the Plains) actually sees more fires every fires season than the Western States which tend to receive a lot of national attention.  The main difference is that the fires in the Southeast are smaller and less intense than the monster fires of the West.  Dozens of fires can be seen in this image stretching across the Mississippi Valley into the Plains.

This natural-color image of the Mississippi Valley was captured by the Suomi NPP satellite using the VIIRS (Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite) instrument on October 08, 2016. Actively burning areas, detected by MODIS's thermal bands, are outlined in red.