By Elijah Mt. Castle

Mexico is currently facing one of its worst forest fire seasons in decades. Over 1,000 people have been evacuated in Nuevo León, Mexico alone. Drought conditions and high winds have severely hindered firefighting efforts. The La Niña weather system has caused high winds with gusts up to 90kph. These high winds have grounded helicopter fire fighting units. This year alone, fire has destroyed over 29,000 hectares(~72,000 acre) of forest nationwide, the third largest loss of forest land in a decade. There are currently 75 active wildfires across Mexico. Pictured are the VNF detections in Nuevo León for March 17th -28th 2021. Also pictured is the EOG Nighttime Lights mosaic for March 27th 2021. The more pronounced the color is on the map, the longer fire has been burning there.