Poor air quality will exist today along the Great Smoky Mountains and the Knoxville and Chattanooga metropolitan areas due to smoke from wildfires. Everyone should pay attention to their body and limit prolonged outdoor activities. (Image courtesy National Weather Service in Morristown)
A smoky haze continues in East Tennessee, and an air quality alert has been issued for much of the Tennessee Valley, including the Knoxville area, because of smoke from wildfires, officials said Monday.
People with heart or lung disease, older adults, and children were advised to avoid prolonged or heavy exertion. Everyone else should reduce prolonged or heavy exertion, according to the forecast on AirNow.gov.
The National Weather Service in Morristown said unhealthy air quality conditions will continue across much of the area today.
“Plumes of smoke from wildfires will continue to linger in the atmosphere across the Tennessee Valley and southern Appalachian Mountains,” the National Weather Service said. “The smoke plumes will reduce visibilities and produce poor air quality conditions.”
Current air quality conditions in the Chattanooga area were listed as very unhealthy at about noon Monday, meaning people with heart or lung disease, older adults, and children should avoid all physical activity outdoors. Everyone else should avoid prolonged or heavy exertion.
Conditions in the Nashville area were listed as unhealthy at about noon Monday, meaning people with heart or lung disease, older adults, and children should avoid prolonged or heavy exertion. Everyone else should reduce prolonged or heavy exertion.
Valleys around Asheville in western North Carolina and Hickory, North Carolina, also had unhealthy air quality conditions at about noon Monday.
After falling to 53 fires last week, the number of active fires in Tennessee has climbed back up to 74. Area conditions seemed to have improved starting Tuesday last week, at least based on visibility, but they appear to have deteriorated again starting Sunday.
Anderson County continues to have the most acres burned by fires that are still active: six fires that have burned 4,236 acres. Five of those fires are suspected arsons, with debris the cause of the sixth. Oak Ridge Today has previously reported on most of those fires, except for a small one-acre fire caused by arson on Briceville Highway on Saturday.
There are also now six active fires in Morgan County, with 1,206 acres burned. Four are suspected arsons, and two have unknown causes.
Also, Campbell County has 10 active fires, with 655.5 acres burned. Eight are listed as arsons and two are listed as having unknown causes. At least two of those fires appear to be close to Anderson County, including one on Norris Freeway and another reported off Stoney Fork Road in the mountains just north of Anderson County.
There are three large fires that are not yet contained. A 1,400-acre fire in Bledsoe County has an unknown cause, and so does a 1,000-acre fire that is 90 percent contained at Flippers Bend in Hamilton County. A 625-acre fire at Mowbray in Hamilton County is 50 percent contained, and the cause is listed as arson/breakover.
On Sunday afternoon, the Tennessee Department of Agriculture Division of Forestry reported 18 new fires burning 317 acres over the previous 24 hours. Fourteen of those fires were in the Cumberland or East Tennessee districts.
The Division of Forestry said air quality is not likely to improve during the next few days in the southeastern portion of Tennessee as winds are not strong enough to clear the smoke out.
One of the challenges for firefighters have been the dry conditions. The Division of Forestry said the next best chance of rain is Thursday through Friday for most of the state. Relative humidities are expected to rise with the approach of that precipitation.
More information will be added as it becomes available.
See the AirNow.gov forecast here.
See the National Weather Service in Morristown website here.
See a Saturday fire location map by the Tennessee Division of Forestry here.
See a list of active fires from Sunday here.
An air quality forecast for Monday, Nov. 14, 2016, posted by AirNow.gov. Yellow areas are forecast to be moderate, orange-brown areas are unhealthy for sensitive groups, and red is unhealthy.
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