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.
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 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”.
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 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 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.
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”.
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 of currently active wildfires, November 11, 2016.
Above: The map shows the location of some of the larger wildfires in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia November 11, 2016.
(UPDATED at 4:59 p.m. ET November 11, 2016)
The intense wildfire activity that has been going on for weeks in the southeast United States ramped up a bit over the last 24 hours as extremely low relative humidities allowed some of the blazes to continue to spread aggressively Thursday night. A weather station southeast of Asheville, NC 9 miles northwest of the 977-acre Party Rock Fire recorded 9 percent RH early Friday morning. Night time humidities in that part of the country are usually far above 50 percent at night.
The good news is the conditions will moderate a little over the next several days after the passage of a cold front.
Weather forecast for the area southeast of Asheville, NC through November 18, 2016. NWS.
There are currently 31 uncontained wildfires in the Southern Geographic Area. Here some other numbers about the fires in the region (data from the National Interagency Coordination Center and the Southern Area Coordination Center):
10 Incident Management Teams deployed or en route (3 Type 1 teams, 6 Type 2 teams, and 2 Type 3 teams)
77,507 acres have burned in the fires that are still active
136 hand crews
184 engines
12 air tankers (4 large and 3 single engine)
14 air attack ships
34 helicopters (11 large Type 1, 5 medium Type 2) and 18 Type 3)
3,067 total personnel assigned
List of some of the larger wildfires in the southeast U.S. on November 11, 2016. Data from SACC. Click to enlarge.
