I'm not sure if you can see the smoky haze over our neighborhood in this picture however there is a stong smoky smell in the air!
For the second time in a week, southeast winds brought smoke from the wildfires near the Georgia-Florida line as far north as Atlanta early Tuesday.
A smoky haze - along with the smell of burning wood - hung over the area, causing slowdowns on crowded interstates and roads leading into Atlanta as motorists drove through the heavy cloud of smoke during morning rush hour.
South of Atlanta, the haze blanketed Interstate 75, reducing visibility to a couple of miles for motorists headed to Perry.
People headed in from outdoors complained of watery eyes and difficulty in breathing.
Smoke from the wildfires burning in southeast Georgia, including the Okefenokee Swamp, began showing up in Thomaston, about 50 miles south of Atlanta, between 4 a.m. and 4:30 a.m., National Weather Service meteorologist Robert Beasley said. Smoke also covered Columbus in west Georgia.
Beasley advised people with respiratory problems to stay inside.
"Right now we don't have a lot of wind circulation," Beasley said. But he said the smoke would lessen when the sun came out and the wind swung to the east later in the day, picking up speed.
Beasley said a front moving through the area Wednesday also should bring some relief.
"We should get fresher air off the Atlantic and from the Carolinas, where they're not having fires," he said.
The Weather Service said smoke from the wildfires would remain over much of north and middle Georgia through the afternoon and reduce air quality, especially in metro Atlanta, Columbus and Macon.
Susan Zimmer-Dauphinee is program manager of the unit that monitors the quality of air people breathe for the state Environmental Protection Division. The EPD issued a Code Orange smog alert for the Atlanta area Tuesday, meaning the air is unhealthy for sensitive groups.
"Part of the reason for the Code Orange is that we knew we would have smoke coming into the area, but we've had a little more than we expected," she said.
She said the smoke is made up of minute particles that can enter the blood stream through the lungs, making the air dangerous for people with heart conditions and respiratory problems.
The forecast calls for no rain for at least the next seven days. Beasley said an exception may be the mountains in extreme northeast Georgia, which may see a few thundershowers Wednesday.
"It looks like the rest of May will have little or no rain at this point," Beasley said. "There's a slight chance the very last day of the month or so."
Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said the smoky haze reduced visibility at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport to about a mile and a half but caused no real problem.
Tuesday's haze was not the first time Atlanta area residents were touched by the far away fire.
Last week, 911 dispatchers in metro Atlanta received dozens of calls from residents who smelled the smoky odor and thought a fire had broken out in a neighbor's home. The smoke drifted as far east as Augusta and north to the Carolinas.
The wildfires have blackened more than 473,000 acres of parched forest and swampland in drought-stricken southeast Georgia and north Florida. Commercial timber losses are estimated to be at least $30 million.
On Tuesday, a task force monitoring the blazes for the two states said wildfires in Georgia have burned more than 350,556 acres, and fires in north Florida have burned 122,643 acres.
The two big Georgia fires - started April 16 and May 5 - have merged in the Okefenokee Swamp.
The April fire started when a tree fell onto a power line near Waycross. The second blaze was started by lightning in the Okefenokee Swamp and spread into Florida.
A smoky haze - along with the smell of burning wood - hung over the area, causing slowdowns on crowded interstates and roads leading into Atlanta as motorists drove through the heavy cloud of smoke during morning rush hour.
South of Atlanta, the haze blanketed Interstate 75, reducing visibility to a couple of miles for motorists headed to Perry.
People headed in from outdoors complained of watery eyes and difficulty in breathing.
Smoke from the wildfires burning in southeast Georgia, including the Okefenokee Swamp, began showing up in Thomaston, about 50 miles south of Atlanta, between 4 a.m. and 4:30 a.m., National Weather Service meteorologist Robert Beasley said. Smoke also covered Columbus in west Georgia.
Beasley advised people with respiratory problems to stay inside.
"Right now we don't have a lot of wind circulation," Beasley said. But he said the smoke would lessen when the sun came out and the wind swung to the east later in the day, picking up speed.
Beasley said a front moving through the area Wednesday also should bring some relief.
"We should get fresher air off the Atlantic and from the Carolinas, where they're not having fires," he said.
The Weather Service said smoke from the wildfires would remain over much of north and middle Georgia through the afternoon and reduce air quality, especially in metro Atlanta, Columbus and Macon.
Susan Zimmer-Dauphinee is program manager of the unit that monitors the quality of air people breathe for the state Environmental Protection Division. The EPD issued a Code Orange smog alert for the Atlanta area Tuesday, meaning the air is unhealthy for sensitive groups.
"Part of the reason for the Code Orange is that we knew we would have smoke coming into the area, but we've had a little more than we expected," she said.
She said the smoke is made up of minute particles that can enter the blood stream through the lungs, making the air dangerous for people with heart conditions and respiratory problems.
The forecast calls for no rain for at least the next seven days. Beasley said an exception may be the mountains in extreme northeast Georgia, which may see a few thundershowers Wednesday.
"It looks like the rest of May will have little or no rain at this point," Beasley said. "There's a slight chance the very last day of the month or so."
Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said the smoky haze reduced visibility at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport to about a mile and a half but caused no real problem.
Tuesday's haze was not the first time Atlanta area residents were touched by the far away fire.
Last week, 911 dispatchers in metro Atlanta received dozens of calls from residents who smelled the smoky odor and thought a fire had broken out in a neighbor's home. The smoke drifted as far east as Augusta and north to the Carolinas.
The wildfires have blackened more than 473,000 acres of parched forest and swampland in drought-stricken southeast Georgia and north Florida. Commercial timber losses are estimated to be at least $30 million.
On Tuesday, a task force monitoring the blazes for the two states said wildfires in Georgia have burned more than 350,556 acres, and fires in north Florida have burned 122,643 acres.
The two big Georgia fires - started April 16 and May 5 - have merged in the Okefenokee Swamp.
The April fire started when a tree fell onto a power line near Waycross. The second blaze was started by lightning in the Okefenokee Swamp and spread into Florida.
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