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Smoke in the Albuquerque skies: where is it coming from?
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Wildfires in New Mexico and surrounding states blanketed the Albuquerque area and other parts of the Land of Enchantment with a layer of smoke.
On Wednesday, the city of Albuquerque issued an air quality forecast that said while smoke levels were not high enough to warrant a health alert, the smoke would affect visibility.
“A lot of the haze that’s in the sky is mainly elevated smoke left over from the Laguna Fire that’s up in the Jemez Mountains and the other fires that are located in northern Arizona and southern Utah,” National Weather Service meteorologist Carter Greulich said in an interview.
In New Mexico, the Laguna Fire, four miles northeast of Gallina, has burned 15,000 acres.
To the west, in Arizona, the Dragon Bravo Fire has burned 8,500 acres in the Grand Canyon and the White Sage Fire has torched over 50,000 acres in the northern part of the Kaibab National Forest.
“Those are likely going to be the two that are producing the most smoke from Arizona,” Greulich said.
Those fires, along with the France Canyon fire in southern Utah, produced the smoke that has settled over New Mexico. Greulich said only those who have a hypersensitivity to things like smoke and dust in the air will notice a change in the air quality.
“If you have some sensitivity … just consider limiting time outdoors,” he said.
Greulich said New Mexicans can expect to see smoky skies through the weekend, with a possibility for improvement next week.
“Hazy skies may be sticking around until Friday at the earliest,” he said.
