at 4:16 PM by Pierce Larkin

The Southeast is Battling Wildfires

As I posted about last week, the majority of Kentucky is now in a Moderate to Severe drought. This has continued to worsen, with much of the southeastern portion of the state now in a Severe Drought.

The current drought conditions across KY. h/t US Drought Monitor
The current drought conditions across KY. h/t US Drought Monitor

Well, we are not alone. Much of our neighbors to our south and east are seeing much, much worse drought conditions. Nearly 21% of the Southeastern region in the US Drought Monitor’s sectors is seeing an Extreme Drought, with exceptional drought conditions being the highest on the scale.

The current drought conditions across the southeastern US. h/t US Drought Monitor
The current drought conditions across the southeastern US. h/t US Drought Monitor

Here are some statistics on just how bad this drought has become across the southeast:

  • Nashville, TN: 6.13″ below normal rainfall
  • Chattanooga, TN: 18.93″ below normal rainfall
  • Asheville, NC: 9.85″ below normal rainfall
  • Atlanta, GA: 10.36″ below normal rainfall
  • Huntsville, AL: 11.31″ below normal rainfall
  • Birmingham, AL: 10.11″ below normal rainfall
  • Tuscaloosa, AL: -12.31″ below normal rainfall

That is ridiculous. Many of these areas have seen no rain so far this month, and saw very little rainfall last month, much like us. This drought is only getting worse as we move forward in time, as a pattern change doesn’t look to be occurring within the next couple weeks. They need the rain.

h/t giphy
h/t giphy

This is causing much greater issues than just dry conditions. In many areas of the southeastern US, wildfires have become a major issues. Wildfires have been occurring across the southeast the past couple weeks, with a few of them becoming major fires along the way.

 

One of the hardest hit regions is right in our own state, in eastern Kentucky. Gov. Matt Bevin even declared a State of Emergency regarding the fires themselves. A fire in eastern Kentucky has burned upwards of 10,475 acres by itself, and it is only 27% contained. The southeast is struggling to fight these fires, and has had to call in crews from around the country to fight these fires. However, with little rainfall in the forecast across much of these areas, it may be tough to contain these fires.

What is amazing is that this smoke actually spread across much of the Ohio Valley late last week. With fairly stagnant conditions across the region last week, some of the more incredible picture of the fires and the smoke surface from satellite images on Twitter. Check those out, and be sure to keep the folks that live in these areas in your prayers, and hope that the fires don’t affect many homes.