JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Smoke drifting from fast-moving brush fires burning miles away in Florida and Georgia is impacting air quality across Duval County and surrounding areas.
Many spots saw a hazy sunrise this morning, and you might be wondering why that was. It was due to the ongoing fires in Georgia and Florida.
The wind at the surface this morning was calm, which means any smoke remained stationary over the same locations for an extended period of time.
RELATED: Jacksonville’s Chief Health Officer, shares how growing wildfires affects people’s breathing
Looking a few thousand feet up, we experienced a westerly wind that transported smoke into our area from the fires in Georgia and Florida.
Smoke at the surface has lowered our air quality significantly, especially across the Jacksonville Metro into Georgia. The brighter colors on the map above show the areas with the worst air quality.
Dr. Shilpa Amin, medical director of the emergency department at HCA Florida Memorial Hospital, explained how the smoke could affect your breathing.
“In the smoke, there are microparticles, and those small particles can go into your lungs and can inflame them,” she said.
Jacksonville recorded unhealthy air quality levels on Wednesday, and there are precautions you need to take if you plan on being outside.
Check Airnow.gov to see the latest air quality levels in your area.
People with heart or lung disease, older adults, children and teens – take any of these steps to reduce your exposure:
- Avoid strenuous outdoor activities.
- Keep outdoor activities short.
- Consider moving physical activities indoors or rescheduling them.
Everyone else – take any of these steps to reduce your exposure:
- Choose less strenuous activities (like walking instead of running) so you don’t breathe as hard.
- Shorten the amount of time you are active outdoors.
- Be active outdoors when air quality is better.
The air quality can be especially hard for those who suffer from any level of asthma.
“If you have to go outside, wear a mask that will help prevent the particles from going into the lungs,” Amin advised. “Keep your windows closed in your home, obviously in the car, don’t put the windows down.”
Signs to monitor if someone is having an asthma attack would be heavy coughing triggered by soot in their nose or mouth, according to Amin.
The smoke from the fires was evident on satellite this morning, and the satellite can help detect where the hot spots are. Those hot spots (the bright areas) are the active fires across the region.
Remember, fires can be very unpredictable, and the wind can change directions quickly. This can lead to fires becoming out of control, which is what we have seen over the past few days.
Angie Enyedi with the National Weather Service explained how environmental conditions over the next few days could change.
“What we typically see is that smoke laying out across the community during the early morning hours. That’s just because the wind settles down at night, so that smoke is able to pool. So for our communities going over the next few nights, that smoke will continue to be most hazardous overnight into the early morning hours,” Enyedi said. “Then, as we go into the late morning, the winds begin to pick up, and that smoke begins to lift and disperse. But by the time that occurs, that’s when the fire activity could get sporty, as we’ve heard, because the winds begin to increase and the atmosphere dries out. Each afternoon over the next several days, we’ll continue to monitor for those elevated fire danger conditions and keep the boots on the ground briefed of those.”
Make sure to have a plan in place should you have to evacuate in a short amount of time.