On Monday, Southwest Alaska saw an increase in initial attack fire activity due to an abundance of lightning and new fire starts prompting an air quality advisory for smoke until Thursday, June 20. The accompanying Red Flag Warning for increased temperatures, dry fuels and gusty winds in the geographic area increase the potential for large scale fire growth and the smoke associated with that growth. There have been numerous fires ignited over the past 24 hours across Southwest Alaska including the Kuskokwim Mountain region which will cause the air quality to fluctuate between good and unhealthy near those fires.
In addition, the McDonald Fire, approximately 30 miles southeast of Fairbanks, saw an increase in fire activity on Monday due to warmer and drier conditions and has become an active smoke producer since late yesterday afternoon. Communities near the fire may be impacted during the evening hours as smoke will have the tendency to settle in to the lower elevations which has the potential to impact communities in that area. The highlighted areas on the map below illustrate the areas that may be impacted by smoke as fire activity increases throughout the day.
In smoke impacted areas, the Department of Environmental Conservation advises people with respiratory or heart disease, the elderly and children should avoid prolonged exertion; everyone else should limit prolonged exertion.
Smoke intensity will vary depending on precise location and local wind flow patterns. Smoke concentrations will be such that they could impact public health at times. It is advised that travelers check local weather as smoke conditions may vary considerably from one locality to the next. More information with regards to air quality and advisories across Alaska may be found at https://dec.alaska.gov/Applications/Air/airtoolsweb/Advisories
The most recent weather observations for the surrounding impacted areas may be found on the Federal Aviation Administration Weather Cams homepage at
https://weathercams.faa.gov/.
Categories: Air Quality, AK Fire Info, Alaska DNR - Division of Forestry (DOF), Fire Weather
Alaska Wildland Fire Information 