Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Yes, it certainly was like a never-ending severe weather cut-in during last night's weather casts. I showed one plume of smoke after another and at one point a dozen new wildfires were being tracked per hour on live doppler radar. I have never seen anything like it. I have been tracking weather all over the country for about 20 years at different media outlets and on my own since I was 4 years old drawing weather maps. I usually love weather extremes but I have put fires and smoke on the list with ice storms as my least favorite weather to track and forecast. The main thing yesterday like every day is keeping people safe and sticking to the basics. I got word out on the wind direction that may threaten neighborhoods. Luckily there were no big wind shifts and evacuations were minimal. Good for people, but bad for our lungs as the air quality went into the unhealthy range for sensitive groups.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Parts of the First Coast got some much-needed rain Monday, but the Division of Forestry said that even this wet weather hasn't been able to tame the wildfires raging in several counties.

According to DOF spokesperson Annaleasa Winter, the heaviest rain hit in areas, like Southside and Mandarin, that don't have any fires burning.

In fact, Winter said it's possible that lightning strikes from the storms coming though the area Monday may have started some new fires.

DOF investigators believe the lightning is to blame for fires along County Road 209 and near the Dee Dot Ranch on the Southside.