BAD AIR OVER FLORIDA

The 2008 fire season is in full swing and the smell of smoke from the St. Johns county brush fire may have affected you. The fire season runs all year long in Florida but it peaks in May and June. This is a dry time of the year since the summer rains have yet to start and winter cold fronts stop dropping south into the state. Although rain totals are over an inch below normal for the year, over the past 7 days, north Florida and especially the Panhandle received more rain than south Florida. You can see how little rainfall has been over south Florida in the above graphic.

The air quality has has dropped to moderate in cities with a yellow dot due to the particles in the air. The smoke from a few fires in south Florida has caused hazy skies over portions of the state.




But the fires in Florida are meager
compared to Mexico and Central America. Each red dot in this picture is a fire detected by satellites and it appears most of the Yucatan, Belize, and Honduras are on fire. Most of these fires are set intentionally to clear land for crops. Satellite pictures show the smoke and haze moved into the Gulf and flowed into Florida.

The steering flow will continue to send the smoke into Florida through the week. These winds are out of the southwest near the northern side of the a ridge positioned east of the Bahamas. The ridge is being displaced south by a stalled front over central Florida shown by the clouds and convergent wind vectors in blue.