Satellites show smoke from US wildfires reaches Europe

BERLIN (AP) — Satellite images show that smoke from wildfires in the west of the United States has reached as far as Europe.

Data collected by a European Union monitoring service found smoke from the fires had traveled almost 5,000 miles through the atmosphere to Britain and other parts of northern Europe.

The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts said the fires in California, Oregon and Washington state have emitted an estimated 33.4 million tons of carbon.

A senior scientist and wildfire expert said Wednesday the scale and magnitude of these fires are at a level much higher than in any of the years since monitoring began in 2003.