The Haze

[ironchapman]

So, how about that smoky haze from the wildfires in South Georgia.

Really something, isn't it? Anyone here have any trouble with it?

Here's a nice little article on it from ABC News.

Thick haze and the smell of burning wood hung over the city Tuesday morning as the wind blew in smoke from massive wildfires along the Georgia-Florida line.

There is no rain in Atlanta's forecast for at least another week, but the wind should shift direction, with fresher air coming in off the Atlantic Ocean by evening, National Weather Service meteorologist Robert Beasley said.

[Lady Celeste]

It was truly amazing Irony.

Almost every morning, I go out on the upper deck to look at the wildlife and take in the fresh air. This morning I was hit with the smoke. It was beyond haze. My first thought was to call the police and report that someone was burning. Especially since metro Atlanta is under a no burn ban. Yes I'm the person who will call the authorities in a minute if something is out of the norm. I could see the smoke. My home sits high up above a "valley" and the smoke had pooled horribly. Of course I did not want to even finish my coffee after the digust of the atmosphere. Around 12 I found out that it was smoke from the south Georgia fires. It is amazing how far smoke will travel.....and it even smelled like freshly burned wood.

I wonder how the 6500 nurses who are in town for the conference felt about this. Luckily for me none of my children suffer from respiratory problems. I, of course, limited my exposure as well as their's. Let's hope tomorrow is better.

[ironchapman]

It was truly amazing Irony.

Almost every morning, I go out on the upper deck to look at the wildlife and take in the fresh air. This morning I was hit with the smoke. It was beyond haze. My first thought was to call the police and report that someone was burning. Especially since metro Atlanta is under a no burn ban. Yes I'm the person who will call the authorities in a minute if something is out of the norm. I could see the smoke. My home sits high up above a "valley" and the smoke had pooled horribly. Of course I did not want to even finish my coffee after the digust of the atmosphere. Around 12 I found out that it was smoke from the south Georgia fires. It is amazing how far smoke will travel.....and it even smelled like freshly burned wood.

I wonder how the 6500 nurses who are in town for the conference felt about this. Luckily for me none of my children suffer from respiratory problems. I, of course, limited my exposure as well as their's. Let's hope tomorrow is better.

[suburban george3]

I am just north of ATL this evening with work, having travelled down today from NC. I started noticing the haze near Anderson, SC around 10:30am. It was bad thru Lavonia, Toccoa, Clarkesville, Cleveland, and here in Canton. It smelled bad and was causing my eyes to itch a bit. Amazing how strong the smell was to be carried so far....

[convulso]

i live in auburn (AL - not sweet auburn), and everything was fine until last night around 10 CST. then the smoke blew in, and damn - it was as though there were a pretty major fire burning just a couple of miles away. not just the visible haze - the very distinct smoky smell, too. i got curious and drove around southeast GA all night last night, and it seemed to be a little bit better in columbus. further south and east, though - lumpkin, cusseta, dawson, albany, blakely - it was very thick.

it wasn't until i drove the CA central valley for the first time that i realized what a daily quality-of-life issue airborne pollution really is - i had always thought smog was just a talking point - the thing that CA types love to hate, etc. - but then i drove CA 99 from barstow to modesto. even in the agricultural central valley, 100 miles from fresno; 200 from L.A., etc., the smog never left me. oddly, you can drive I-5, which parallells the central valley on a high ridge to the west, and completely miss the smog, even though you can still see all the distant towns you pass through on smoggy CA 99.

if the amount of smoke in atlanta rivals what i saw in auburn and south GA last night, i hate to think what that must be like, coupled with the ever-present urban environmental factors. it's just so damn strange that the smoke has been so concentrated that, at one time or another, everyone from miami to tallahassee to birmingham to brasstown bald has seen and breathed the smoke from this fire. unlike CA smog or smoky mountain pollution, the smoke seems to have spread irrespective of the local topography. the weather channel even reported smoke as far away as new orleans - hard to believe. hope the schizo winds start blowing SW-to-NE again soon.

better yet, i hope the fire ends (duh).