Bushfire smoke from the Bootleg Fire runs all the way to the East Coast

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It’s just one of the many fires raging in the West. The National Interagency Fire Center is monitoring 80 major fires in 13 states this week — a testament to the devastation of the US wildfire season.

The effects of the fires extend all the way to the east coast.

Unusual plumes of wildfire smoke billow from these huge pools, reaching the atmosphere yet, where high-level winds carry them thousands of miles east.

While the thick smoke makes air quality hazardous in the West, it also creates frightening skies over the Midwest and Northeast.

All components are ready for a very dangerous season – a historic drought, intense heat in early summer, and a snowy drought exacerbated by dry winters and hot springs.

Scary scenes in the east

Even as the fog cleared Tuesday morning around the Great Lakes region and along the East Coast, sunlight was hard to find as a thick blanket of bushfire mist hung in the sky.

“In areas where the sky is ‘clear’, thick smoke above is limiting the sun’s rays, with no clear sunrise in our office earlier this morning despite practically clear skies!” The National Weather Service office in Albany, New York wrote.

There was a bit of cloud in the northeast on Tuesday morning, but the smoke — transported on a 3,000-mile trip across the country — created a foggy start to the day.

In some areas, the smoke has reached ground level, where it can be a health concern. Air quality alerts are issued hundreds of miles from the flames, as far east as Pennsylvania and New York.

The National Weather Service in State College, Pennsylvania, forecast that “wildfire smoke should reach its peak concentration over Pennsylvania on Tuesday afternoon, and some near-surface smoke may also contribute to another day of foggy conditions.”

Large wildfires in Canada produced massive amounts of smoke as well, leading to air quality alerts in areas of Minnesota and North Dakota. “Smoke from wildfires north of the Canadian border in Ontario and Manitoba will be carried by northerly winds behind a front moving into the northern parts of the state,” said meteorologists with the National Weather Service in North Dakota.

On Tuesday evening, the highest concentrations of near-surface smoke are expected in the northwest, where fires are burning, and the upper Midwest and Northeast. There is also a plume of temperate smoke that extends from the northern plains south into Texas and New Mexico.

Conditions improved slightly Wednesday in the central United States and the Northeast as a cold front pushes smoke into West Virginia and Pennsylvania.

Smoke particles can be dangerous to young children and those who suffer from cardiopulmonary diseases such as asthma and heart disease. Air quality alerts are issued when health impacts increase due to air pollution, in this case from bushfire smoke.

Almost the entire state of New York was on an air quality alert on Tuesday.

Smoke can be seen in the high levels of the atmosphere in several ways. Its effect on light causes the sun to appear red at sunset as the sky takes on a burnt orange hue. A similar effect can be seen in the morning with sunrise.

This happens because of the way light passes through the atmosphere. Sunlight is scattered in all directions by tiny air particles and the smallest wavelengths – blues – are scattered more than others, which is why the sky is blue.

Smoke particles are much larger, scattering red wavelengths more efficiently and causing the sky to take on a yellow or orange hue.

dehydration effect

Wildfires have consumed more than 1.2 million acres of drought-stricken land so far this season.

“Seven fuel and fire behavior warnings were issued for Southern/Central Idaho, Northern California, Northern Rockies, and Southern/Central Oregon. Many of these warnings describe unusually dry fuels, resulting in high fire potential and fire activity.” Interagency Fire Center.

California alone has recorded more than 5,000 fires that have burned more than 200,000 acres so far this year — five times the area burned compared to the same time last year. Drought, heat, and wind are the worst possible combination of wildfires, and explosive fire behavior releases smoke high into the atmosphere.

Chad Myers, a meteorologist at CNN, has experienced the smoke phenomenon of other wildfires.

Myers recounted, “Last week I spent time in Vail Valley in Colorado. It took my breath away every time I visited. This time was different. No blue skies, no stars above, and a faint smell of smoke.”

Colorado experienced four of the five largest wildfires in the past three years, in 2018 and 2020 during the record-breaking wildfire season across the country. Wildfire smoke often concentrates on the slopes of the Rocky Mountains during the summer, making outdoor activities even more dangerous to health.

State residents are accustomed to the idea of ​​having a permanently packed suitcase carrying important documents, family memories and medical needs during the summer months – a “travel bag” – in case they need to evacuate quickly due to an approaching fire.

“It was amazing, to say the least, to wake up to the smell of smoke,” Myers said, describing it as ‘disturbing, especially in the mountains, because it means you’re downwind because of something burning.

Those on the East Coast may not have a “suitcase” prepared and ready to evacuate at any moment, but an air quality alert on a smartphone or a blazing red sunset is a visual reminder of the national struggle to conquer what seems to be the insatiable hell in the West.

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