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Wildfires are really screwing up Oregon's summer.
A cold front and a welcome rainstorm helped clear the choking smoke from Portland air last weekend. But there are still 17 large, uncontained fires in Oregon. The Northwest Interagency Coordination Center defines large fires as 100 acres or more in timber, or 300 acres or more in grass. These 17 fires include three new large fires since Aug. 13.
A warming planet, catastrophic weather, yadda yadda yadda. We know what you're really wondering: Will these big ol' fires block your view of the solar eclipse?
Probably not. "Without seeing new fires start west of the Cascades or the [Willamette] Valley, you're not likely to see the smoke," says Matthew Cullen of the National Weather Service.
Still, a few major fires lie in the path of totality for the eclipse, including the Whitewater Fire in Willamette National Forest, and the Jones and Rebel fires east of Eugene.
Here's where the fires are burning in Oregon. Where their smoke drifts, however, will depend on whether the blazes get bigger this week. "The smoke is dependent on the fire behavior," Cullen says. "It's very much up in the air."
