Honduran Airport closures.

[DiversMom]

La Prensa, one of the major daily newspapers for Honduras has reported that ALL four airports in Honduras are closed due to haze caused by massive forest fires. Tegucigalpa, San Pedro Sula, La Ceiba, and Roatan have been closed since yesterday. They may open tomorrow if minimum operating conditions can be met. Anyone flying into San Pedro Sula will be going to San Salvador, El Salvador. Please check with your airline before heading to the airport.

The entire country is blanketed in an unbearable smokey haze. Hospital emergency room visits have increased by 30-40% with most of the increase due to respiratory problems. We cannot see the LOW hills outside of town, let alone the mountains because of the smoke.

This was taken at 5p.m. yesterday afternoon. The mountains are not visible, it should be bright and sunny, not feeling like sunset.

 

[jbjclj]

Great! We are scheduled to leave LAX @ 1:00 am this Monday-Houston to SAP and then SAP to Utila. Any updates on the status would be appreciated. Continental said they canceled 2 flights yesterday and I guess it is day to day. Do they aggressively fight the fires or just let them burn out?

Many thanks
Cheryl

 

[Doc]

Do they aggressively fight the fires or just let them burn out?

Very little is done aggressively in Honduras.

These are sugar cane fires. They aggressively start cane fires in Central America.

[Alert] Honduras (Security Rating: 4), Toncontin International Airport in Tegucigalpa Remains Closed: Authorities April 25 closed Toncontin International Airport (TGU), the main airport serving Tegucigalpa, Honduras, because smoke from nearby wildfires reduced visibility. TGU officials have not yet reopened the airport, forcing some international airlines to divert flights to San Pedro Sula - La Mesa International Airport (SAP), which is 172 km (107 miles) north of Tegucigalpa. iJET: Authorities first closed TGU April 20, but the airport reopened momentarily on April 24. The raging fires, typical in this region from March to May, may force more closings of Toncontin in the coming weeks. The rainy season, which starts in late May, usually brings an end to the fires.

See http://www.websitetoolbox.com/tool/post/ccv/vpost?id=422850 for links to the NOAA Satellite Photos and the rest of the story.

Live Roatan Webcam at http://www.cocoviewresort.com/webcams.html

 

[DiversMom]

Very little is done aggressively in Honduras.

These are sugar cane fires. They aggressively start cane fires in Central America.

our area.They burn off corn fields and bean fields instead of plowing under. In our area the cane is further north near Lake Yojoa. Those fires get out of control and hit the pine forests. It's so appropriate that we are in the midst of the National Festival of Pines in Siguatepeque and the pine forests around us are burning to the ground. The local firefighters I've seen have been out trying to something about it...they are coming back into down worn to a frazzle and covered in soot. We have soot and bits of burning plant debris raining down on us in town. Last night the mountains south of town were totally ablaze. Our dogs are sick, everyone in the family is sick. I woke up in the middle of the night gasping for air and having having major difficulty in breathing because of all the crud. I ended up having to sleep sitting up in bed.

 

[freefall2]

The visibility and air quality in Roatan was greatly improved today. It's been horrible here all week so I can only imagine what it's been like on the mainland.

 

[DiversMom]

The visibility and air quality in Roatan was greatly improved today. It's been horrible here all week so I can only imagine what it's been like on the mainland.

in my first post was a "good" day. Things are a little better this morning - at 6a.m. but I don't know if it will stay that way. It feels like in addition to the fires that there is a giant temperature inversion over the entire country! It's been hotter than hades here in the mountains - up into the 90s on some days.

 

[DiversMom]

Great! We are scheduled to leave LAX @ 1:00 am this Monday-Houston to SAP and then SAP to Utila. Any updates on the status would be appreciated. Continental said they canceled 2 flights yesterday and I guess it is day to day. Do they aggressively fight the fires or just let them burn out?

Many thanks
Cheryl

was greater than 2.5km. If it drops below that I expect that the airport will close again.
From this morning's LaPrensa on line : Con un mínimo de visibilidad de 2.5 kilómetros reanudó operaciones ayer el aeropuerto Ramón Villeda Morales.
(With a minimum visibility of 2.5km, operations resumed at Ramón Villeda Morales Airport. That is the airport in San Pedro).
It's day to day down here with the fires.
For those who can read Spanish, here's the article in LaPrensa.

http://www.laprensa.hn/nacionales.php?id=1297&tabla=April_2005&fecha=20050430


Between the forest fires, the cane field fires and the heat, it's been miserable. It hit 41 deg C in San pedro on Tuesday - about 106 deg F.

I'm out of here....heading to Copan Ruinas to do my border crossing requirement to Guatemala this weekend. Our boarder came back on Monday and said unfortunately it is just as bad over there with the smoke.

 

[jeef]

I was scheduled to leave LAX thursday night but was cancelled. Rescheduled for early tomorrow morning since airports are open again, but may cancel after seeing these posts.

I was planning on seeing the interior country as well as roatan. I can probably cancel and redo later in the year when this mess clears up. Bummer.

You think that would be the smart thing to do?

 

[freefall2]

It's hard to say how long this is going to last. It was worse again this morning and this is the first time we can actually smell the smoke inside the boat. Friends arrived yesterday after being in Belize and say it was smoky there too!
Jeef - sorry our internet was down for 2 days so I know it's probably too late to reply to you. If you can reschedule without being penalized too bady it might not be a bad idea. On the other hand, we were diving this morning and even though the light is crappy from the smoke, the visibility was about 100' and the water temp was wonderful about 85!

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Roatan airport was open yesterday ... I flew out around 4 PM.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)