So that's what those things were!

Flew back to NC from Boston yesterday afternoon. As we were crossing VA into NC, I started seeing these huge plumes of smoke, trailing across the landscape for tens of miles. I first thought they were factories of some kind. But that didn't make any sense - no factory could put out that much smoke without getting shut down. Then I though they might be fires from developers clearing brush, but there were too many of them - I must've seen a dozen of them.

Turns out they were wildfires. Wish I got a picture... but the same winds that were fanning those fires were working on the plane to create the roughest flight I've ever been on. It was quite a ride.