Smoke from wildfires impacts Georgia

smoke wildfires south

Above: Satellite photo showing smoke from wildfires in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Georgia, November 10, 2016.

Many wildfires are still burning in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, and several other states in the southeastern United States. On Thursday much of the smoke was being blown into the northern half of Georgia, potentially causing health problems for sensitive people.

map fires south
Map showing the location of wildfires in NC, SC, TN, and GA. Click to enlarge.

The primary culprit for the wildfire activity is a lack of precipitation. Many areas in the southeast have not received any significant rain in weeks. It has been more than 70 days for some locations in Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, and South Carolina. This has resulted in many wildfires breaking out in the last month.

list wildfires south
List of some of the wildfires in North Carolina November 10, 2016 (many others, including some in other southern states, are not shown in this list).

The state with the most active fires is North Carolina, but the largest fire currently burning in the south is in Georgia, the 10,336-acre Rough Ridge Fire in the northern part of the state. Caused by lightning on October 16, it is being fought by 296 personnel, 9 hand crews, 2 helicopters, 7 engines, and 2 dozers.

Puerto Rico crew Rough Fire Georgoa
A crew from Puerto Rico works on the Rough Fire in northern Georgia. InciWeb photo.
Rough Ridge Fire
The Rough Ridge Fire in northern Georgia, posted to InciWeb November 4, 2016.
Party Rock Fire North Carolina
Party Rock Fire in North Carolina, November 6, 2016.

For the latest articles at Wildfire Today about wildfire smoke check out the articles tagged “smoke”.

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Author: Bill Gabbert

After working full time in wildland fire for 33 years, he continues to learn, and strives to be a Student of Fire.

18 thoughts on “Smoke from wildfires impacts Georgia”

  1. We are suppose to come up on Tuesday the 21 and staying thru Saturday in Ellijay. Does anybody know what the conditions are there right now? Thanks!

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  2. We are to be near Blairsville next week 23rd thhru 26th and staying at Copperhead Lodge. Will be coming in on motorcycle…..Air quailty? Should we cancel?

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    1. We live across the highway from Copperhead Lodge and the smoke hasn’t been bad at all the last couple days. Outdoors is fine right now, but as others have said it’s based on wind direction. When it’s like this you’ll be fine, but when the wind shifts it does get pretty smokey in the area.

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  3. All depends on the wind direction of course….we were up North and east of Blue Ridge, about 15 miles away and it was fine on Sunday, guests up there today also report conditions are only a little bit smokey to see, but conditions not bad for breathing etc and they are in their 60’s…Mark your location on a map and check the current wind direction each day and the forecast for the wind directions which you can find online and it should help your decision!

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  4. Traveling to Ellijay Friday-Monday, hoping for the best. Updated comments would be welcomed!!

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  5. Anybody live around Helen ga? We have reservations starting 11-19. Kinda nervous that the smoke will ruin our trip.

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  6. Have vacation planned starting Nov 19 in Mineral Bluff, GA. Is this area affected by the smoke? I have breathing problems and need to know if I should cancel. Thank you so much.
    Linda

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    1. just returned from blue ridge ga, stayed nov 9th thru 14th. the smoke was herrendous. somedays just the smell other days the smoke was so thick we thought the mountain we were on was on fire. we visted areas in tennesse and north carolina. could not escape the burning fire smell no matter where we went. went to brasstown bald, the highest peak in georgia. smokey haze every where. hopes this helps. we did get to be outside the whole time but could not open the doors or windows in the cabin to enjoy the cool weather due to the fires. on the way home, smoke and haze all the way south of atlanta….

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    2. Mineral Bluff is fairly close to the Rough Ridge fire. Can not predict wind direction so impossible to predict the smoke impact. When wind is coming from the north, smoke is bad as far as Atlanta, 100 miles away. My inclination is to say yes, the area is likely to be affected, due to it’s close proximity.

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