BOSTON – If you’re wondering why it smelled like smoke from northeastern Massachusetts all the way down to the Boston area Monday, it was the brush fires in Salem and something known as an “inversion.”
Smoke in Boston area
Believe it or not, the sunny, dry fall weather was to blame as brush fires erupted across southern New England over the weekend.
The greater Boston area has gone two weeks without any measurable rain. The ground has become extremely dry and covered with kindling in the form of leaves and twigs. Add to that some very breezy and dry (low relative humidity) days and you have the perfect recipe for an increased brush fire danger. In conditions like these, all it takes is a small spark to ignite a fire which can then spread extremely fast.
Why does it smell like fire outside?
But, why are we smelling the fires several miles away? That has to do with a temperature “inversion” in the atmosphere.