Satellite images show aerial view of Northern California wildfires

Images captured by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration satellites show how wildfires burning throughout Northern California appear from space.

The images, shared to Twitter Wednesday and Thursday, provide an aerial view of Northern California’s largest wildfires, including the Dixie fire in Butte and Plumas counties.

Thick clouds of smoke covering a large swath of Northern California are visible in the images, and so are red and yellow blotches that show heat emerging from the blazes.

One of the images taken by the GOES-17 satellite shows plumes of thick smoke from 22,300 miles in space.

Another image captured by the GOES-West satellite shows more smoke and flames.

“As #wildfires continue to consume portions of the western U.S., satellites are closely monitoring the situation,” the tweet featuring the colorful image reads. “This imagery of several large ones and the smoke they're producing in Northern California was captured yesterday by the #GOESWest Satellite.”

The Dixie, Monument, McFarland and River Complex fires have burned thousands of acres and have led nearly 16,000 people to evacuate, according to California’s Office of Emergency Services.

The Dixie fire, which is the sixth largest in California’s history, has burned 322,502 acres as of Thursday morning, according to Cal Fire. The blaze is 35% contained.

In Trinity County, the Monument fire has burned 24,719 acres and has not yet been contained as of early Thursday afternoon, according to the U.S. Forest Service. Shasta County’s McFarland fire is 23,409 acres and 7% contained.

The River Complex fire comprises nearly 20 wildfires that total 16,773 acres in the Klamath National Forest in Siskiyou County. It is 1% contained, according to the U.S. Forest Service.