The hot weather and dry lightning common in Florida between the end of March and the middle of June is often a recipe for wildfires.

On March 23, 2018, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite detected smoke from multiple lightning-triggered fires in southwest Florida. The fires had not caused much damage to homes as of March 29, but they are likely the first flare-up in what the Florida Forest Service expects to be an active fire season.

Much of the southern part of the state faces abnormally dry conditions, and there are many downed trees that are primed to burn after last summer’s hurricanes.

NASA images by Jeff Schmaltz, LANCE/EOSDIS Rapid Response. Caption by Adam Voiland.