Images
September 8, 2026 - Burn Scars Surround Honey Lake
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High temperatures along with below-normal rainfall triggered extreme fire weather across much of California and Nevada in the summer of 2026. By late August, multiple fires had ravaged thousands of acres along the border of the two states.
On August 29, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite acquired this false-color image centered on burn scars surrounding several of the iconic lakes in the two states.
The light-blue triangle marks Honey Lake, California, an ephemeral lake that becomes extremely shallow when temperatures rise and rain fails. Pyramid Lake, Nevada, sits to the south east, with burn scars along its southwestern coast. The southernmost lake is Lake Tahoe, which sprawls across the border of California and Nevada.
In this type of false-color image, vegetation is bright green, open land appears in tan tones, and clouds are white. Burn scars—areas damaged by a fire—may show in a wide range of color from nearly black, to brown, to brick red, depending on the soil, the completeness of the burn, and how long ago the fire tore through the region.
Most of the burn scars in this image are not only very large, but their brick red color indicates recent fires. Additional burn scars, primarily in the west, are smaller and show some fading as vegetation begins to return, suggesting that they were from fires a year or more ago.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Terra
Date Acquired: 8/29/2026
Resolutions:
1km (156.5 KB), 500m (374.8 KB), 250m (218.2 KB)
Bands Used: 7,2,1
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
High temperatures along with below-normal rainfall triggered extreme fire weather across much of California and Nevada in the summer of 2026. By late August, multiple fires had ravaged thousands of acres along the border of the two states.
On August 29, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite acquired this false-color image centered on burn scars surrounding several of the iconic lakes in the two states.
The light-blue triangle marks Honey Lake, California, an ephemeral lake that becomes extremely shallow when temperatures rise and rain fails. Pyramid Lake, Nevada, sits to the south east, with burn scars along its southwestern coast. The southernmost lake is Lake Tahoe, which sprawls across the border of California and Nevada.
In this type of false-color image, vegetation is bright green, open land appears in tan tones, and clouds are white. Burn scars—areas damaged by a fire—may show in a wide range of color from nearly black, to brown, to brick red, depending on the soil, the completeness of the burn, and how long ago the fire tore through the region.
Most of the burn scars in this image are not only very large, but their brick red color indicates recent fires. Additional burn scars, primarily in the west, are smaller and show some fading as vegetation begins to return, suggesting that they were from fires a year or more ago.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Terra
Date Acquired: 8/29/2026
Resolutions:
1km (156.5 KB), 500m (374.8 KB), 250m (218.2 KB)
Bands Used: 7,2,1
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
