Friday found smoke and the smell of burning wood in the air as breezes kicked up and a haze settled over the mountains. The haze hanging over the Alleghenies completely blocked the view as I looked from my house.
The smoke was so heavy I thought it was a fire on the nearby mountain range and even called a law enforcement friend to see if he had heard anything on the scanner about a fire out my way. It is extremely dry in these parts and recent thunderstorms have missed us, leaving tinder dry conditions, so I would not have been surprised to hear of a local fire.
It turned out to be smoke from wildfires that have been burning in North Carolina the past two weeks, smoke that had traveled on the upper-level air flow into this part of Virginia. It had found its way to the Shenandoah National Park and the Shenandoah Valley.
The Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge fire, which has consumed 40,000 acres -- the equivalent of 60 square miles -- was believed to have been started by lightning on June 1 and is only about 40% contained.
Smoke has been seen in Richmond, Danville, Lynchburg, and Roanoke as well as the coastal areas of Portsmouth and Norfolk.
This morning it looks clearer although a haze still hangs over the mountains. We will see if the winds shift and brings more of it our way.
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