The smell of smoke in Cary

On the way home this evening, the smell of smoke was definitely present in the air. The smoke is being transported west from the fire ongoing west of Manteo NC by easterly winds. Let me tell you that it was a distinct smell. My dads scanner has been busy with calls coming into the 911 about smoke investigations and even the smell of chlorine. I guess people dont listen to the news or the weather as much and didnt know that the smoke was expected to make it into the region. Other than that, pulse severe thunderstorms developed across the I-95 region, southern and western Piedmont and sandhills. Outflow boundaries out ran the storms and these boundaries made it all the way into wake county this evening. These boundaries are from cold air that develops from evaporation when rain begins to fall out of the storms into drier environment air. This process cools the air down and because thunderstorms have a tremendous amount of precipitation falling, this process can be quite vigorous and really cool the air quickly. This rush of air combines with the downward momentum from the precipitation and downdraft to form a downburst of air that can take down trees. This process continues and it will eventually rush out ahead of the storms. Sometimes these boundaries can form new storms along them but the boundary rushed out ahead of the storms eventually choking them of the unstable air needed to form storms. The cold pool air described above is much more stable. I believe this helped to transport the smoke plume into the area as well.

We did see some slightly lower temperatures today and Thursday should be very close to today.. near 90. There is just a small chance of a shower or storm. Widespread rain does not look likely for the next few days. A cold front should approach the area Sat night and Sunday bringing with it a chance for showers and storms. Right now, I am not confident on anything more than widely scattered activity.