On Thursday morning we got up and, as usual, I looked out the window to see the sunrise. This is what I saw.
I wondered why there was a cloud bank with such a clearly-defined edge when there was no passing front at the time. I learned later that it wasn’t clouds, it was smoke coming from the Rough Ridge fire burning in extreme northern Georgia near the Tennessee line. It has been burning since October 16. As of Thursday it had burned more than 10,300 acres. That’s about 16 square miles. The smoke has been blowing down towards the Atlanta area from the Rough Ridge fire and some others.
The smoke was thick enough that a Code Red air quality alert was issued for the Atlanta area. That means that the particulate matter was high enough to be unhealthy for all people.
The wind direction changed on Friday. This is what the view looked like Friday afternoon.
Downtown Rome, which is usually visible, is almost completely obscured by smoke. There was a noticeable haze up on the mountain and a slight odor of smoke. I think the thickest part of the plume was east of us; it was not bad, but we were clearly within the plume.
The Rough Ridge fire is burning in the Cohutta Wilderness in the Chattahoochee National Forest. It is thought to have started from a lightning strike. At this point it has not reached populated areas, which is good for residents, but its location in the wilderness area has caused problems for fire fighters. The terrain is rough and the area is isolated.
The unusually warm and dry weather and windy conditions have made fire danger particularly high. The relative humidity has been in the 20-percent range, which sounds to me more like what you might see in the western US.
This Web site has some photographs from the fire.
Atlanta’s air quality was upgraded on Friday to Code Orange, which is unhealthy for sensitive groups. It’s better, but still not good. As far as I can tell, our air quality index is Code Yellow, or moderate.
The weather forecast for Friday night was for more windy conditions. One of the firefighters said in an interview that the fire won’t be completely out until we get a long, soaking rain. There is no rain in the forecast for the next week, so we can expect the fire to continue to burn.
It really is a surprise to see such a big fire there, especially in mid-November. The forests must be so dry. I hope things improve, and all of the southeast gets the big rains it needs.
Robin — As of Sunday, the Rough Ridge fire has burned about 17,000 acres. That’s about 26 square miles. From what I can tell of the news video and some photographs, as well as the description, this fire does not seem to be burning in the tree tops, but on the ground. Even so, I expect many, if not most, of the trees in the burn area to die from the fire. I have seen evidence of a similar ground-burning fire up here on the mountain. Some living trees have blackened areas at the base of the trunk. So maybe some of the forest will survive.
So sorry to read of this. I know Georgia has been very dry for a long time with no forecast for change. While it’s good that human populations are not in the path of the actual fire, I mourn for the wildlife and their habitat.
Minnie — The fires are still burning, apparently as uncontrollably as ever. There is supposed to be a frontal passage tonight (Friday), which is supposed to bring the potential for light rain. I’m hoping for more than that. I don’t know how the wildlife is handling the fires, but apparently although they are hard to put out, they are not as intense as western fires, so maybe they can escape. Of course much of the low growth will probably be burned, so wildlife that rely on that will probably have problems.
East Tennessee and western North Carolina are burning, too. We have had several Code Red days from fires’ smoke, and one elementary school closed last week. It’s been so dry, so very dry.
Karen — It’s kind of funny when the Atlanta TV weather people say how great it is that the wind is coming from the south so Atlanta doesn’t get smoke from the fires north of Atlanta. They seem to forget, or just not care, that there are people living Tennessee. I really miss rain. They (those same TV people) say it’s supposed to rain fairly heavily next week. I hope they’re right.