Last Updated on December 19, 2013 8:19 pm
On Thursday (Dec 19,2013) many residents and motorists were caught off guard by heavy smoke in the area. The day before the U.S. Forest Service had announced a “prescribed burn” in northern Caldwell County on the Grandfather Ranger District, Pisgah National Forest.
The 200-acre burn in the Thunderhole Creek area was planned to reduce hazardous fuels and help protect local communities from catastrophic wildfire, according to the USFS.
While some in the High Country may not have been aware of the burn, they certainly took note of the smoke as it started to roll into Watauga County Thursday afternoon.
At 3:35pm the view of the drift smoke was very noticeable in downtown Boone as this screen shot from the Watauga Roads.com live camera page showed
Taken from Chateaux Cloud in Blowing Rock. Photos: Nathan Seamone
With sunset the smoke was still visible as capture by Jennifer Coffey
