Comparing The Amazon Jungle Fires To Ocean County

You've probably seen or heard the news these last few days of the historic forest fires that are currently blazing out of control in the Amazon jungle.

A stunning record was set in the last month for the amount of forest that has been lost, but rather than just throwing numbers at you, we wanted to give you some context that puts it into our local perspective.

The smoke plumes from the fires have been so heavy that they've been picked up by satellites.

Here's how much area the smoke plume would cover if it was over the eastern United States:

It would cover nearly the whole Northeast; engulfing all of New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and even into the Carolinas to the south and Ohio to the west.

The amount of forest lost in the last month is a staggering 519 square miles.

Here's about what that would be equal to for us:

• Losing Jackson 5 times over
• Losing Toms River 10 times over
• Losing Brick a jaw-dropping 16 times over

In fact, the square mileage is more than the entire Jersey Shore coastline from Sandy Hook to Cape May, and is half of the entirety of Ocean County.

You can read much more about the Amazon jungle fires by clicking here for an in-depth story from Science Alert.