WILMINGTON, Ohio | While storm conditions have lingered in the region, all the haze in the air is not just condensation, weather officials said this week.
According to the National Weather Service office in Wilmington, Ohio for the second time in a month, a quantity of upper level residue from wildfires in Alaska and Canada has been interfering with the rays of the sun reaching the ground.
“The smoke is high above the clouds do you don’t smell smoke, but it is thick enough to obscure the sun,” said John Frank, NWS meteorologist. “It it shows on the satellite and earlier in June it also showed up well on the satellite images.”
The smoke is creating a hazy or “milky” appearance of the sky over the Ohio River valley.
It is continuing to move eastward and creates images like red sunsets over areas that are being affected the most by the smoke, NWS officials said.
According to the Alaska division of the Bureau of Land Management and fire officials, fires in Alaska burn more than a million acres each year and the current fires have already burned more than 750,000 acres so far.
“They will have fire burning until the snows come,” Frank said.
According to Alaska fire officials, the smoke near the fires remains unhealthy, including those near the village of Tanana, Alaska which is featured in the “Yukon Men” television series.
According to Alaska Forestry officials, “A voluntary evacuation notice remains in effect for the village of Tanana. Smoke impacts, with approximately three-quarter mile visibility, are likely in the unhealthy to hazardous air quality range.”
There are no air quality issues with the haze crossing Canada and the U.S., due to the elevation of the smoke, NWS officials said.
For more on Alaska fire locations go to www.akfireinfo.com.
To follow weather activity and view more satellite images, go to NWS at www.weather.gov.
