Alabama 811 | Know What's Below.

How Are The Current Central And Southern California Wildfires Impacting Air Quality Issues?

| November 18, 2018 @ 9:30 am

Picture

DISCUSSION: (11/10/2018) Over the past 24 to 48 hours, a good portion of central and southern California has witnessed some of the worst wildfire activity over the past 5 to 10 years and then some. As a result of this devastating wildfire activity, there is been a corresponding increase in the amount of smoke generated by the wildfire is which included the Camp Fire and the Woolsey Fire. The tweet attached above shows recent S-NPP VIIRS images which encapsulate recent views of the central and southern wild fire smoke plumes. It is worth noting that although the destruction has been nearly absolute in many towns and cities which has forever change the lives of thousands of people in the path of the flames, there is still more to the story than just the wildfires alone.

More specifically, the smoke plumes generated by the wildfires have been so dense at times the data nearly blocked out the sun during the peak times of the day across various parts of central and southern California. Therefore, as a result of this increased smoke presence via the wildfire persistence, this has led to air-quality issues as well due to the overwhelming amount of wildfire smoke which has persisted and enveloped parts of central and southern California. This is a serious health hazard for thousands and potentially millions of people in and around the immediate wildfire threat zone because of the variable presence of respiratory conditions such as asthma or lung defects. Hence, it goes without saying that the increased wildfire smoke is a real and legitimate threat to many people in the path of the regardless of whether they are in perfect health or a compromised health state.

For these reasons, it is imperative to heed the advice of local officials and listen to the recommendations from emergency management officials as well in terms of the actions you should take both during and ahead of any wildfire threat both now or in the future. There is no debate that wildfires are one of if not one of the most destructive natural forces on earth and should be taken incredibly seriously regardless of how near or far you are from a given wildfire which is occurring at a given point in time. However, if one is prepared for such an event, it can make surviving and mitigating the impacts much more likely in many cases. Thus, the moral of the story is to always be prepared and be ready for the worst but hope for the best.

To learn more about other fire weather-related issues/topics, be sure to click here!

© 2018 Meteorologist Jordan Rabinowitz

AlabamaWX is pleased to partner with the Global Weather and Climate Center team for outstanding posts about our atmosphere. Visit them at https://www.globalweatherclimatecenter.com for more great information!

Tags:

Category: Partner News Stories

About the Author ()

Comments are closed.