How Mexico's agriculture burn affects Austin local weather

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- The haze happens every spring and it can make you feel bad.

The sky loses that beautiful azure, blue hue. Though its occurrence doesn't originate in the Austin area, if the wind is blowing just right, Central Texas and a good deal of the state will still see the haze's effects.

The Texas Commission On Environmental Quality attributes this recent haze to "a good amount of atmospheric moisture" helping to partially contribute to the hazy sky.

The other factor that led to the haze partnering with the clouds is smoke that wafted into our sky from the agriculture burning ongoing in northern Mexico. These fires occur in the northern part of the country as well as the Yucatan. A south-to-southeast wind flow will cause the smoke from the Yucatan to travel across the western Gulf to our coastline and further into the coastal plain on the Interstate 35 corridor.

The southern part of the state, as well as coastal Texas, will experience poorer visibility than Central Texas.

The fires are deliberately set to manage the farmland. Farmers use these fires to add nutrients back to the soil as well as clear the grounds of unwanted plants.

The science behind this? The soil becomes more fertile after the fires as the fires indirectly cause mineralization rates in the soil to increase.

That's the positive.

The negative? Smoke from these fires produces that ugly smoke that degrades the air quality. It causes our skies to have that "milky" look.

The Centers for Disease Control said the airborne smoke is a mix of gases and fine particles from the burning vegetation. Even the healthiest people can get sick if there is enough smoke in the air. One might have a cough, scratchy throat, runny nose and/or irritated sinuses.

Headaches and fatigue are also possible.

The burning helps local farmers remove crop after-effects left in the fields after harvesting grains such as hay and rice. This burning also allows for the removal of orchards and vineyard tree pruning. 

As aforementioned, the negative effect of this burning leads to air quality reaching the moderate category, as we experienced on Tuesday. The air quality became unhealthy for sensitive groups. This negative air quality was not only experienced in Austin and locations off to the east, but also in some of the Hill Country. A couple of air sensors in Burnet reported air quality so bad that it reached that unhealthy level for sensitive groups.

So, when does it end? The easy answer is "any day now" as the burning season typically ends during May. Obviously, 2023 has been different. Forecasters expect this smoke to hang around through the week but should wind down soon.

Growing season takes over after that burning season ends and lasts until October.