NASA's Aqua satellite easily spotted the rapidly growing wildfire near Fort Collins in Colorado on Monday.

The intense drought out west is likely to cause more of these fires and the huge number of dead trees in the forests (due to the Pine Beetle) are certainly aggravating the situation. The opposite is true on the Gulf Coast with a deep layer of tropical moisture moving ashore over the weekend. Over 20 inches of rain fell in western Florida. As of late May, 37% of the U.S. was suffering from drought conditions.

Short Term Drought Monitor.

Below is the rain estimated over The Southeast U.S. The Gulf is unusually warm right now and this had to play a role in the flooding rains.

One last image to show you. The NCDC Climate Extremes index reached a new high with the incredible warmth over the USA in the last 5 months. (See my last post)

From NCDC/NOAA. The index reached twice the average from Jan.- May. Click for more info.