A haze surrounding the hills had a distinct smell of burned wood.
Observation: At about 8:21 AM, I observed a haze surrounding the hills of Unalakleet, both easterly and northerly, with a distinct smell of burned wood. I took photographs easterly and northerly to get a sense of the range of smoke. The hills outside of town, roughly 6 to 10 miles as far to the horizon, were covered with his smoke haze. The concentration of the smoke seemed more intense easterly than northerly. I also took snapshots of the BLM's Alaska Interagency Coordination Center's Fire Markup information (AICC), dated on June 6, 2017. I then followed up about 5 hours later, around 1:22 PM, looking easterly, north easterly, and northerly.
LEO says: On June 7th there were seven wildfires within about a fifty mile radius of Unalakleet, a likely source for the smoke observed in your community. There were three wildfires to the northwest (30° – 70°) and four to the southwest (190° – 250°). According to Weather Underground, weather conditions for Wednesday started off with light winds out of the ENE to Easterly direction ± 6.5 mph, shortly after 9 AM winds moved from out of the ENE — Easterly direction to a more WNW — Northwest flow at ± 8 mph by mid-afternoon. Atmospheric conditions were hazy with a visibility range ± 3 miles from about 8 AM to 10 AM by that afternoon it had increased to about 10 mile in distance. This observation has been added to the LEO Wildfire Smoke Project and shared with the Alaska Fire Science Consortium, JFSP.
To learn more about the effects of smoke exposure and the preventative measures to take, you might want to check out the, Wildfire Smoke: A Guide for Public Health Officials or from AirNow.gov for How Smoke from Fires Can Affect Your Health, both are resource information provided the Environmental Protection Agency. M. Tcheripanoff
Resources:
An Interagency Incident Support Website. Alaska Interagency Coordination Center (AICC), is the Geographic Area Coordination Center for Alaska. To report an Alaska wildland fire call 1-800-237-3633 or 911 for fire information call 907-356-5511. Source: Alaska Fire Service
Division of Air Quality Information. "The Federal Clean Air Act and state law in Title 44, Chapter 46, and Title 46, Chapter 3 and Chapter 14 establish the duties of the Division of Air Quality for controlling and mitigating air pollution and for conserving the clean air that is enjoyed in most locations of Alaska." Source: Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (ADEC)
UAFSMOKE. Wildfire Smoke Prediction for Alaska. "The Weather Research and Forecasting model with inline Chemistry and fire plume rise dynamics (WRF/Chem) is used as core model to forecast the atmospheric dispersion of smoke downstream from Alaska wildfires." Source: Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks
BLM's Fire Markup for North Fork
BLM's Fire Markup for River North
Haze smoke seen easterly 1
Haze smoke seen easterly 2
Haze smoke seen easterly 3
Haze smoke seen easterly 4
Haze smoke seen easterly 5
Haze smoke seen easterly 6
Haze smoke seen easterly 7
Haze smoke seen north easterly 8
Haze smoke seen north easterly 9
Haze smoke seen northerly 10
post haze smoke easterly 1
post haze smoke north easterly 2
post haze smoke north easterly 2
post haze smoke northerly 3
