Above: Gatlinburg Inn Surrounded by Fire
Photo: Tennessee Highway Patrol
Below: On November 29, 2016, the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the Suomi NPP satellite captured a nighttime image of the fire in Tennessee. (For comparison, it is paired with an image of the same area on November 22.) Clouds blocked most of the city lights on November 29, but the blaze was so bright that it illuminated the cloud deck just east of Gatlinburg. The fire was imaged by a special “day-night band” that detects light in a range of wavelengths from green to near-infrared and uses light intensification to detect dim signals
The Great Smoky Mountains are named for the blue haze that often hangs over the mountains due to volatile chemicals released by pine forests. But in November 2016, the Smokies lived up to their name for a very different reason.
With drought gripping the southeastern U.S., intense and destructive wildfires have raged in North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, and South Carolina for much of November. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured a natural-color image (below) of smoke billowing from several of the fires on November 27, 2016.
Two days later, blazes forced the evacuation of 14,000 people from Gatlinburg, Tennessee, a town popular among tourists visiting Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Unusually strong winds invigorated the fires overnight, and hundreds of buildings were damaged or destroyed in Gatlinburg, according to the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency. More than 11,000 people lost power. The national park, the most visited in the country, was forced to close.
The ongoing—and in some areas record-breaking—drought in the southern Appalachians started in May 2016 and intensified throughout the summer. Many areas have experienced their hottest and driest autumn on record. While a storm system brought some rain to the region on November 29, the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency does not expect that it will bring immediate relief to areas where the fires are burning.
Above: The Mystery Mansion Attraction burns to the ground in Gatlinburg
Photo: Twitter @coaster_nation
The Internet Asks,
"Did Tennesseans Deserve It?
Meanwhile tempers flared on social media as progressives asked if this event might change this bastion on conservatism's views on climate change and global warming. Needless to say the conservatives, who voted largely for Donald Trump (who sees Climate Change as a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese), were not amused, while the progressives posited that events like this will be enough to drag non-believers into the light on climate change.
In Florida, drought rages but is largely underreported due to directives from politicos who don't want to spook tourists or newcomers. In most places on the peninsula of Florida no rain has fallen since October 7, and little fell between May 1 and the arrival of Hurricane Matthew on October 6, leaving lakes empty and forests tinder dry and primed for wildfires.
In addition to the drought and winds, other factors have intensified the fires across the Southeast. Decades of aggressive fire suppression have primed forests to burn, and outbreaks of insects such as the southern pine beetle and hemlock wooly adelgid have left large stands of dead trees.
Daily Post Gatlinburg (2016, November 29) Forest Fires Blanket Area in Smoke and Ash. Accessed November 29, 2016.
Knoxville News Sentinel (2016, November 29) 14,000 evacuated from Gatlinburg; fires still burning. Accessed November 29, 2016.
NASA Earth Observatory (2016, November 11) Drought and Fire in the Southeast.
NASA Short-Term Prediction and Research Transition Center (2016, November 16) Southeastern Fires Observed in VIIRS Imagery. Accessed November 29, 2016.
National Weather Service ( 2016, November 29) High Wind Watch. Accessed November 29, 2016.
Tennessee Emergency Management Agency (2016, November 29) TEMA Headlines. Accessed November 29, 2016.
The Washington Post (2016, November 29) ‘Worst possible conditions’: Residents flee Gatlinburg, Tenn., as flames engulf popular resort town. Accessed November 29, 2016.
World AIDS Day
While surviving AIDS is more likely today than it was 10 years ago, it is no easy journey. Some of the medications used to treat HIV and AIDS can cause problems with cholesterol or sugar levels, heart attacks, stroke, negatively affect the health of the kidneys, or the strength of bones. Some patients may develop changes in their body shape and appearance, including increased fat in the belly, neck, shoulders, breasts, or face, or loss of fat in the face, legs, or arms. Rashes, asthma, depression, the list if symptoms attributed to the disease and the medications used to treat the disease is long. This is why it is so important to support AIDS research and prevention by observing World AIDS Day on December 1.
On 29th November, to mark World AIDS Day 2016, The World Health Organization (WHO) will launch new guidelines on HIV self-testing to encourage countries to promote self-testing and empower more people to test for HIV. WHO is also launching a new progress report "Prevent HIV: test and treat all – WHO action for country impact". The report shows that more than 18 million people living with HIV have access to HIV treatment, but many more lack HIV diagnosis and consequently are missing out on treatment.
The global HIV epidemic claimed fewer lives in 2015 than at any point in almost twenty years. Prevention programmes reduced the number of new HIV infections per year to 2.1 million in 2015, a 35% decline in incidence since 2000. The massive expansion of antiretroviral therapy has reduced the number of people dying of HIV related causes to approximately 1.1 million 2015 – 45% fewer than in 2005.
Having achieved the global target of halting and reversing the spread of HIV, world leaders have set the 2020 “Fast-Track” targets to accelerate the HIV response and to END AIDS BY 2030.
On World AIDS Day 2016, WHO will be promoting these new innovative HIV testing policies, urging countries and communities deploy high-impact prevention services, and further expand early and quality treatment for all, addressing geographical disparities and leaving no one behind.
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