Siberian smoke likely the cause of Southeast Alaska’s hazy skies
Siberian smoke likely the cause of Southeast Alaska’s hazy skies
24 July 2018
Published by https://www.ktoo.org/
USA/RUSSIA – Haze is obscuring Southeast Alaska’s clear skies this week.
National Weather Service meteorologist David Levin says the the smoke is coming from thousands of miles away.
“We went back and looked at some high resolution satellite from NASA,” Levin said. “We were able to track some of the plume at least all the way back to central Siberia a few days ago.”
Levin says the haze could be visible from Juneau down to Petersburg, maybe as far as Ketchikan.
“It looks like it got caught up into the upper level jet stream, traveled over the Arctic and came back down into the Yukon and B.C. and that’s where we’re seeing it today.”
He says mid-and high-level pressure is trapping dirt and particulates in the air trapped at lower levels in the atmosphere.
“You start seeing haze, except the air has got just kind of got a lot of stuff floating around in it.”
Levin thought the smoke plume could be pushed to the east of the area early this week, but high pressure is expected to return later this week and into the weekend.
