Many residents in Cobb County reported seeing heavy smoke lingering over the area on Thursday afternoon.  That's because the Talladega National Forest was burning more than 1,200 acres near Heflin, Alabama in a controlled burn.

Fire Management Officer Scott Layfield tells WSB you may see smoke again on Friday since they've planned a smaller burn of about 400 acres, about 25 miles south.

"It's predicted to go to the northeast again.  I would not predict it to get near Atlanta. It should go north of it,” said Layfield. “With that many acres, it's not going to make as much smoke."

Layfield says this is the time of year when the weather is appropriate that they may burn for several days in a row.

It is the second time this month smoke from a prescribed burn in Alabama wafted into metro Atlanta. On April 4th, Alabama forestry burned 1,400 acres of vegetation. Reports of smoky conditions with a sharp smell of burning were coming in along U.S. 41 near Marietta, Wade Green Road in Kennesaw and Acworth Due West Road near Acworth. Smoke also was reported in the Dallas area of Paulding County.