Planet Picture: Pacific Northwest

A depiction of the exceptional heatwave that took place in June 2021 in the Pacific Northwest of America. This image shows land surface temperatures on June 25 in Washington, which reached a high of 49°C/120°F in parts of Seattle.

NASA constructed this image with data from their Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer. It uses a scanning radiometer to measure thermal energy (infrared) emitted from Earth’s surface.

Note: Land surface temperatures, not to be confused with air temperatures, reflect how hot the surface of the Earth would feel to the touch. This can be significantly hotter or cooler than air temperatures.