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Wildfire smoke forecast for Tuesday, November 15

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags , , , 9 Comments on Wildfire smoke forecast for Tuesday, November 15

Above: Smoke from wildfires in the southern United States as photographed by a NASA satellite Tuesday afternoon, November 15, 2016; updated late Tuesday afternoon.

We checked several resources for predictions of where smoke from the wildfires in Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia will be distributed on Tuesday. It looks like much of Georgia and South Carolina will be heavily affected, with concentrations in some areas of South Carolina reaching the “Very Unhealthy” level according to the animated map below.

Some areas in the midwest appear to be affected by smoke that blew in from fires in Canada.

Arkansas, Louisiana, and eastern Texas are also heavily contributing to the smoky skies.

Check AirNow.gov for current air quality information. Click on their map to zoom in for a closer look.

An air quality index of 201 to 300 is “Very Unhealthy”.

Continue reading “Wildfire smoke forecast for Tuesday, November 15”

Wildfire smoke causes air quality to worsen in TN, SC, and NC

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags , , 11 Comments on Wildfire smoke causes air quality to worsen in TN, SC, and NC

Above: Smoke from wildfires as photographed by a NASA satellite November 13, 2015. 

The wildfires in the southeast continue to produce large quantities of smoke that in recent days has not been migrating out of the area very quickly. The AirNow.gov forecast for air quality predicts “Unhealthy” conditions Monday and Tuesday in Asheville, NC valleys and Hickory, NC.

smoke, air quality,
AirNow.gov shows degraded air quality near wildfires in the southeast.

The smoke forecast from NOAA’s Earth System Research Laboratory for 11 p.m. ET on Monday shows intensifying smoke in eastern Georgia and the western portions of North Carolina and South Carolina.

wildfire smoke forecast
Wildfire smoke forecast for 11 p.m. ET November 14, 2016. Prepared 1 p.m. ET November 14, 2016. It shows smoke intensifying in eastern Georgia and the western portions of North Carolina and South Carolina. NOAA’s Earth System Research Laboratory.

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

Information and maps of five wildfires in Georgia and North Carolina, Nov. 14, 2016

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags , , , , , , , , 54 Comments on Information and maps of five wildfires in Georgia and North Carolina, Nov. 14, 2016

Above: The map shows the location of some of the larger wildfires currently burning in Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee.

There are still dozens of wildfires burning in the southern United States, primarily in Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. Firefighters have slowed the progress of many of them but others are still spreading. The weather on Sunday was not quite as conducive to extreme fire behavior, but most areas are still extremely dry and have not had significant precipitation in weeks.

The weather forecast for the Asheville, NC area through Saturday, November 12, calls for more of the same weather — moderate winds, daily high temperatures in the 60s, and relative humidities in the 80s at night and the 30s in the afternoon.

Below are some statistics for the active fires in the Southern Geographic Area:

  • 73 active fires
  • 109,563 cumulative acres
  • 103 hand crews assigned
  • 242 engines
  • 19 helicopters
  • 3,492 personnel

Here is a look at five of the more active blazes:

Party Rock Fire

map party rock fire
Map of the perimeter of the Party Rock Fire at 11 p.m. ET November 13, 2016.

The Party Rock Fire has been burning just north of Lake Lure, North Carolina since November 5. It has blackened 3,457 acres and required evacuations in the Chimney Rock community. On Saturday and Sunday it grew by 574 acres, with most of the additional acres being on the southwest and northwest sides.

Tellico Fire

map Tellico Fire
Map of the perimeter of the Tellico Fire at 11 p.m. ET November 13, 2016.

The Tellico Fire three miles south of Almond, North Carolina expanded by 3,791 acres over the weekend and now stretches across 13,676 acres after merging with another fire, the Ferebee Fire. It spotted across the Little Tennessee River to the east, but that spot was contained at about 100 acres. U.S. Highway 19 on the west side of the fire was closed on Sunday.

Continue reading “Information and maps of five wildfires in Georgia and North Carolina, Nov. 14, 2016”

Update on wildfire smoke, November 13, 2016

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags , , , 3 Comments on Update on wildfire smoke, November 13, 2016

Above: Clouds in the satellite photo obscure some of the smoke produced by wildfires in SC, GA, NC, and TN.

wildfire smoke forecast
Prediction for wildfire smoke at 5 p.m. ET November 13, 2016. Updated at 1 p.m. ET November 13, 2016.

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

Wildfire smoke forecast for Sunday evening

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags , , , 3 Comments on Wildfire smoke forecast for Sunday evening

This is the forecast for the distribution of wildfire smoke for 6 p.m. ET, Sunday, November 13, 2016. Courtesy of NOAA. It was produced at 1 p.m. ET, November 12, 2016.

For a satellite photo of actual wildfire smoke on Friday, click HERE.

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

Tennessee and North Carolina receiving the worst of the smoke on Saturday

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags , , 16 Comments on Tennessee and North Carolina receiving the worst of the smoke on Saturday

 Above: Smoke from wildfires drifts into Tennessee, North Carolina, and northern Georgia, November 12, 2016. NASA, with notations by Wildfire Today.

As the siege of wildfires continues in the southeast United States the smoke from the blazes continues to impact residents in the area. As the wind direction changes from day to day different populations are affected. Most of the smoke Saturday was blowing to the west and southwest.

We did some quick mapping and found that on Saturday approximately 4.5 million residents were experiencing moderate to heavy smoke in northern Georgia, northern Alabama, eastern Tennessee, and western North Carolina. Almost the entire state of Alabama was affected by lesser concentrations.

map wildfires tennessee georgia
Map of currently active wildfires, November 11, 2016.

Continue reading “Tennessee and North Carolina receiving the worst of the smoke on Saturday”