Sunday’s hazy skies and orange sun was due to wildfire smoke blown down from Interior Alaska and northwest Canada.
“We just had a continuous northerly flow from that direction and the smoke just finally permeated into the northern part of the panhandle at the higher altitudes,” said Brian Bezenek of the Juneau office of the National Weather Service.
He said the smoke may linger in the Juneau area until Monday afternoon when the winds start shifting.
Rain showers predicted for late Tuesday and Wednesday may also wash away some of the smoke.
The lingering smoke also cast the sun in an orange tint early on Sunday.
“That’s just the smoke particles diffusing the sun rays early on the morning,” Bezenek said.
Brian Bezenek, National Weather Service
There have been numerous forest fires in the interior of the state and in northwest Canada. And we’ve just had a sort of a continuous northerly flow from that direction, and the smoke just finally permeated into the northern part of the panhandle at the higher altitudes.
Matt Miller, KTOO
And so how long is that going to last?
Brian Bezenek
Well, it should be improving a little bit right now. It’s not looking so bad on the webcam. Granted, we have some more clouds around today. So it might be around yet later in the day when the clouds do go away. I think once we get the wind switched around a little bit, we’ll see that go away. The other thing that we could really pray for if we want to is some rain, and that would help clear all the smoke pretty good as well.
Matt Miller
It kind of looked like, almost a thick overcast with an orange sun in some places.
Brian Bezenek
It did look like that. And that’s just the smoke particles diffusing the sun rays early in the morning. The temperatures were not as warm yesterday, as they had been earlier on the weekend. It looks like we might warm up a little more today, going back into probably the mid to upper 70s for a few areas. And then we have the chance for some rain to try and move past or move through the panhandle on Tuesday to Wednesday. It’s not looking like a very big chance, but we still have a chance, so that might help clear out some of the smoke.
Matt Miller
Did that smoke actually keep the temperature down?
Brian Bezenek
I think between it and some of the clouds that are round it did prevent some of the solar heating.