Massive Arizona smoke plume reaches Minnesota

The smoke plume from a massive wildfire in Arizona has reached Minnesota.

The huge blaze, named the Wallow Fire, has torched nearly 400,000 acres in eastern Arizona's White Mountains near the tiny resort towns of Alpine and Greer.

Latest info on the Wallow Fire. (Click images to enlarge)

The fire is currently the largest fire in the nation, and the 2nd largest fire in Arizona history.

The Wallow Fire began May 29th, and has exploded in coverage over the past two weeks due to high winds over 30mph at times and low humidity under 15%.

You can check out the fire's progression from day one on this interactive map from azcentral.com.

The massive smoke plume form the blaze has reached Minnesota. Check out these high resolution visible satellite images of the plume on it's way to Minnesota. (Courtesy Duluth NWS)

MODIS Aqua satellite image shows Arizona plume tracking over Albuquerque, MN.

Plume tracks northeast reaching Minnesota

Wider elevated, dispersed plume reaches Minnesota and the Great Lakes.

Smoke has been observed in northern Minnesota according to the Duluth NWS.

Smoke From Arizona Fires Spreads Over Northland

"If you happened to notice a milky or hazy appearance to the sky today, you were seeing some smoke being blown into the region from wildfires in Arizona. The wildfires in eastern Arizona are some of the worst that state has seen. As the smoke plume rises and advects to the northeast, it has fanned out and spread into the Midwest and Great Lakes in the middle and upper parts of the atmosphere."

Effects in Minnesota?

The smoke is elevated by the time it gets to Minnesota (mostly above 15,000 feet) and poses little problem. It does scatter out certain colors at sunrise & sunset, making for vivid shows as the sun rises and set each day. During the day, the sky takes on a whitish tint.

PH