Which is larger? Yours, or mine? Australia or the United States of America, that is. With the bushfires in Australia out of control incinerating large swathes of the country a map was produced to visually depict how widespread the fires are. For emphasis the map was overlaid on top of America to give people an idea of the scope of the problem Australia is dealing with. Americans responded with disbelief that Australia was just as large as the USA. People were also in shock over how large an area, measured by size of US states, are currently burning. Responses on social media show how shocked and dumbfounded people were learning this.
Here is the image under discussion.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Booga1 on Wednesday January 08 2020, @08:15AM (2 children)
https://www.smh.com.au/environment/weather/alarming-us-map-of-australian-bushfires-explained-20131025-2w6vi.html [smh.com.au]
So, the map makes it look like that, but that isn't the "whole picture." :P
(Score: 4, Interesting) by janrinok on Wednesday January 08 2020, @09:29AM (1 child)
Another reason that the fires appear joined up is that much of the gaps between them are already burnt out. Those are still homes destroyed, unique fauna and flora lost. It isn't less important just because it happened yesterday. So NBC's picture might show the total damage, but not accurately display current fires. I read last night (but currently cannot find the source) that the current fireline would stretch from LA to New York and almost back again. That is still a lot of bushfire!
CNN [cnn.com] quotes
Unfortunately this is only the start of the summer season and there is not much good news for the next few months on the meteorological front.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Booga1 on Wednesday January 08 2020, @09:37AM
Thank you for this informative retort. I wish more of my comments received such responses.