USA Upper Midwest – Air Quality Concerns

The National Weather Service has issued a number of Air Quality Alerts throughout the Upper Midwest and as far south as Tennessee over the past few days. These alerts will continue to be issued as long as the Forest Fires in Ontario and Manitoba, Canada, continue.

Please use the interactive map link below to check the status of your home area for Cautions, Alerts and Warnings. Click on any area of interest for up to the minute details.
Take care and be safe.

https://www.weather.gov/

Named Storm Elsa – 2021

Tropical Storm Elsa formed in the central Tropical Atlantic from a Tropical Depression. This storm is moving fairly rapidly westerly at over 20 MPH. As it enters the Caribbean, it will start to move more west-northwest and will affect Hispaniola, Jamaica and Cuba over the next few days.
Initial tracking models are showing this storm remaining as a mid level to strong Tropical Storm that may enter the southeastern Gulf of Mexico along the coast of Florida where it will then be steered more northerly. However, tracking this many days out can be a bit imprecise. Persons along the entire Gulf of Mexico should be monitoring the progress of this storm carefully, especially persons in Coastal Mississippi, Alabama, and most of Florida, on both the Gulf and Atlantic coast sides. South Florida could start to feel the effects of Named Storm Elsa later on Sunday, July 4 – extending through Tuesday, July 6. Coastal residents in Florida can expect heavy rain, gusty winds, high surf, beach erosion, rip currents and some tornadoes. We will update this initial information as needed.

Update July 02, 2021: As projected by many tracking models from worldwide agencies, Named Storm Elsa 2021 has gone over slightly warmer waters in the eastern Caribbean and has been upgraded to Hurricane Category 1. However, as it approaches Hispaniola, the mountains that the storm will be encountering will most likely weaken the intensity back to Tropical Storm levels. Tracking models are in general agreement that this storm will start affecting Southern Florida by early Monday, July 5.

Update July 05, 2021: As Named Storm Elsa moves more northerly, it will affect the Florida Keys, south Florida and the Gulf Coast of Florida. The storm is projected to bring heavy rainfall, gusty winds, a coastal storm surge of up to 4 feet in places and power outages. Persons in most of Florida, southern Georgia, the Carolina’s and Virginia should be monitoring this storm very carefully – especially for Flash Flood advisories from your local National Weather Service office.

For up to the minute Official Information, please use the National Hurricane Center link below.

https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/

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“These are not official advisories. These updates and advisories are based upon information from our own computer models, NOAA, Local Weather Data Centers, deep water Buoy Data, and other publicly available sources. FOR THE SAFETY OF YOUR PROPERTY AND PERSON, please refer to your Local, State, and Federal Authority updates for Official Advisories and Orders. For up to the minute advisories and official updates, it is essential that you monitor your local Emergency Government, NOAA and Local Media Broadcasts. Please do not make personal safety decisions based upon information presented here.”

www.gulfstorm.net

Tropical Storm Research Center, Southern, Alabama.

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