TENNESSEE, USA — Wildfire smoke from Tennessee, Kentucky, and Virginia can be seen and smelled as far north as upstate New York.
Drought conditions have crews battling a number of wildfires throughout the southern and central Appalachian Mountains.
November has gotten off to a dry start for Pennsylvania, with only one one-hundredth of an inch of rain falling so far at the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport. Several prescribed burns are being conducted by the DCNR in South Central Pennsylvania, in an effort reduce the dry tinder within the forests of the Susquehanna Valley, according to WPMT. All of the recent fallen leaves, as well as dead branches and bramble, are fuel for potential fires.
Because the smoke is from close-by, it is hanging near the surface, and is not lofted in the upper-levels of our atmosphere, like the smoke from the Canadian wildfires this past summer. With a cold front approaching, there is a strong southwest flow, which is blowing that smoke directly up the Eastern Seaboard. Thus, it is likely that you be able to see it, and also smell it while outside, according to the National Weather Service in Binghamton.
Our air quality index across Central and Northeastern Pennsylvania has remained in the "moderate" range between 50 and 60 through the day on Friday, which has the potential to cause problems for a particularly small number of people who have health problems like emphysema and pulmonary disease.
Want to know the current air quality where you live? Check the U.S. Air Quality Index HERE.
The smoke will clear out by Saturday afternoon, as a cold front pushes it out to sea, and as winds shift from the southwest to from the northwest.
Most of the fires in Tennessee have burned in remote areas away from the public.
However, one fire was burning near Dollywood in Pigeon Forge and had crews working to contain it Thursday, according to WBIR.
On Wednesday, a different brush fire broke out south of Pigeon Forge.
You can see a map with all the fires the Tennessee Division of Forestry is tracking HERE.
