Over the past few weeks, there may have been a few days that you have seen or smelled smoke in the air over north Alabama and southern middle Tennessee. In addition, you may have noticed Red Flag Warnings on the watch/warning/advisory map on our homepage. The purpose of this web page is to provide some answers to questions that are frequently asked regarding the smoke and wildfire risk.

Where has the smoke affecting the Tennessee Valley been coming from?

Believe it or not, much of the smoke that you have been seeing and smelling over the past couple weeks has been coming from wildfires in southeastern Georgia and northeastern Florida. The most significant contributors to this smoke have been the 'Big Turnaround' and 'Bugaboo' wildfires, which have burned over 430,000 acres of land in Ware and Charlton counties in Georgia and Baker County in Florida. The first "bout" of smoke across our area occurred on Monday, May 14th and Tuesday, May 15th, with smoke reducing visibilities as low as 3 miles on the 15th. There was another significant plume of smoke that moved across the area on Tuesday, May 22nd and Wednesday, May 23rd, with visibilities going as low as 1 mile in the Shoals area and many other areas seeing significant visibility reductions on the 23rd. In both cases, the plumes of smoke were steered across the area around high pressure that has been positioned to our northeast.

The above visible satellite image from 8:15 AM on May 23rd shows smoke streaming from the wildfires over Southeast Georgia and Northeast Florida around high pressure centered off the East coast. The most dense plume of smoke extends from near Valdosta, Georgia, through Montgomery, AL and the Shoals area. 1000-850mb streamlines are overlayed on the satellite image showing the mean wind flow in the lower layer of the atmosphere. Click on the image to enlarge it.

Is it uncommon for this area to be affected by smoke from fires as far away as the ones in SE Georgia and NE Florida?

It actually isn't that uncommon for smoke from wildfires to travel that far of a distance. There have been many occasions in the past when smoke from fires as far away as Canada or Mexico have caused hazy conditions in the Southeast. In a majority of these cases, the smoke was not dense enough to be smelled this far away. More prolific wildfires are more common west of the Rocky Mountains in the United States than they are in the Eastern United States, so the Tennessee Valley doesn't see denser smoke (similar to what we have seen on recent occasions) as often as other areas of the country.

What is fire weather?

Fire weather is the use of meteorological parameters such as relative humidity, wind speed and direction, cloud cover, mixing heights, and soil moisture to determine whether conditions are favorable for fire growth and smoke dispersion. The fire weather products we issue such as the Fire Weather Planning Forecast, Fire Weather Watches, Fire Weather Warnings, and Spot Forecasts are generally intended for land management agencies in our area such as the Alabama Forestry Commission (AFC) and the United States Forest Service (USFS). These products provide meteorological data which help these agencies make decisions relating to fire weather, such as when to execute controlled burns and when to expect a higher probability of wildfires.

What is a Red Flag Warning? Should I be concerned about it?

The criteria for the issuance of a Red Flag Warning varies from state to state. The National Weather Service in Huntsville only provides fire weather services for our counties in North Alabama. For more information about the fire weather program for counties in the Tennessee portion of our forecast area, please consult the National Weather Service in Nashville for Lincoln County and the National Weather Service in Morristown for Moore and Franklin counties.

In Alabama during the months of May through October, there must be a combination low relative humidities (at or below 30%), gusty winds (sustained 20 foot winds of 10 mph or greater), and dry conditions (KBDI indices equal to or exceeding 500, except this criteria is suspended for counties under a Fire Alert) for a Red Flag Warning to be issued.

When a Red Flag Warning is issued by the National Weather Service, outdoor burning is strongly discouraged. The state of Alabama may issue a "Fire Alert", which means the number of burning permits issued will be restricted to persons who have burning experience and exceptional control equipment. A Fire Alert has been in effect for the entire state of Alabama since May 18th. If conditions worsen, the state could issue a "Drought Emergency", which is a complete burn ban.

Satellite Imagery From Recent Smoke Plumes

Below are some recent satellite images of smoke affecting our area. MODIS images are courtesy of NASA and the University of Wisconsin. Click on any image to see a larger version of it.