Scientists have noticed that some of the worst fires in the Southeast right now are occurring in areas that have also been affected by hurricanes in recent years. In particular, trees brought down by Hurricane Helene in 2024 were left in place after the storm because it was either too difficult to extract or not worth the cost of doing so. Those trees have dried out over the past two years and are now dry and primed to burn when a fire occurs near them. I remember the same thing happening in the Florida Panhandle after Hurricane Michael in 2018. The smoke from these fires can blow a long way–one of the fires in south central Georgia produced smoke we could smell up north in Athens one day last week, a distance of hundreds of miles. Air quality has suffered because of all the smoke particles in the atmosphere. This article from NBC News describes how extreme weather and increases in air temperature have contributed to recent droughts and wildfires.
