Smokin'

So Tom and I stepped out of our apartment the other morning and it smelled like something was on fire. I didn't think too much of it until we got to work and we got out of the car and it still smelled like smoke (think campfire smoke). I knew there were some wildfires in Florida because of the heat but didn't think the smoke would travel this far to Birmingham. I checked it out on the weather channel and apparently I was wrong....

"...SMOKE FROM GEORGIA AND FLORIDA FIRES AFFECTING ALABAMA...

FOR THE PAST TWO MORNINGS SMOKE FROM THE GEORGIA AND FLORIDA FIRES HAS AFFECTED ALABAMA. THE SMOKE HAS BEEN BROUGHT TO US FROM A DEEP SOUTHEASTERLY FLOW. THIS SMOKE CAN BE SEEN ON VISIBLE SATELLITE AS FAR WEST AS LOUISIANA...EASTERN ARKANSAS...AND SOUTHERN TENNESSEE.

THE SCIENCE BEHIND THIS NOTICEABLE WEATHER PHENOMENA OCCURS AS THE SURFACE COOLS OFF AS THE SUN GOES DOWN. THE AIR JUST ABOVE SURFACE IS WARMER AND ACTS LIKE A BLANKET. EVERYTHING BELOW THIS BLANKET IS TRAPPED. THIS IS CALLED A TEMPERATURE INVERSION. AS THE NIGHT PROGRESSES THIS BLANKET LOWERS...COMPRESSING EVERYTHING TRAPPED BELOW. THIS IS THE SAME SCIENCE BEHIND MORNING FOG. ONCE THE SUN RISES...SO DO SURFACE TEMPERATURES. WHEN THE SURFACE TEMPERATURE BECOMES WARMER THAN THE AIR ABOVE IT...THE ATMOSPHERE MIXES... DISPERSING THE TRAPPED PARTICLES FROM BELOW.

FOR TUESDAY...SMOKE WILL BECOME LESS EVIDENT AS WE MIX OUT. UNFORTUNATELY A TEMPERATURE INVERSION WILL AGAIN SET UP TONIGHT MAKING THE SMOKE MORE NOTICEABLE. THIS WILL ALSO REDUCE VISIBILITIES.

RELIEF IS ON THE WAY IN THE FORM OF A COLD FRONT ON WEDNESDAY. ONCE THE FRONT PASSES...WINDS WILL SWITCH AROUND FROM THE NORTH AND CLEAR THE SMOKE OUT.

PERSONS WITH RESPIRATORY PROBLEMS ARE ADVISED TO REMAIN INDOORS AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE UNTIL THE FRONT PASSES."



Just thought this was interesting :)