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Air Monitoring Particulate Data
2006 Forest Fire Air Quality Updates
August 15, 2006
10:00 AM
Current Situation
There is a lot of smoke and haze over the Big Sky state this morning. The smoke from the fires in Washington and Idaho and smoke from some new starts here have left a lot of residual smoke that stretches all the way to the Dakotas. Ground level concentrations of smoke are a problem in Butte and Helena where the smoke is at UNHEALTHY FOR SENSITIVE GROUPS right now. There is also a lot of smoke in the northern Bitterroot and levels around Florence and Lolo are also expected to be at UNHEALTHY FOR SENSITIVE GROUPS reaching to UNHEALTHY nearer the Gash Creek fire. There is no report from Philipsburg this morning but smoke from the Sands Basin fire has likely caused a problem in the Flint Creek Valley as well. The rest of the state will see a lot of haze today, see the forecast below for details. Local impacts from nearby fires will be a problem today, residents near a fire should pay attention to current conditions and use the VISIBILITY GUIDELINES to determine smoke levels in their area and guide their activity decisions.
Morning satellite photo centered on Great Falls
MODIS picture from Monday Aug 14 at 3:07 PM MDT
Webcams
Red Eagle MT from St. Mary Visitor Center
The Big Mountain Ski area webcam near Whitefish
The DEQ webcam looking north to the "Sleeping Giant" mountain
This morning’s analysis from NOAA’s satellite services division shows the active fires in Montana and the smoke plumes combining and spreading downwind (the analyzed smoke is based on yesterday’s satellite coverage, the fire detects are based on last nights satellite coverage).
Red indicates hot spot detected. Grey represents smoke seen by satellite. Fire
size is exaggerated for visibility at this scale. To identify individual fires on graphic above go
here: http://activefiremaps.fs.fed.us/lg_fire2.php
Real time particulate information is currently available in most of the larger urban areas from several different sources including: DEQ run PM-10 BAMS and PM2.5 BAMS, NWS ASOS visibility monitors, and USFS remote access Nephelometers and BAMS.
This morning’s smoke report is below, comparing particulate levels where we have information to MDEQ’s Forest Fire health advisory levels. Smoke Categories
Updated 10:00 AM August 15, 2006
Locations and severity of forest fire smoke reports since midnight of the date above at reporting stations.
| Smoke Conditions | City |
|---|---|
| Hazardous | |
| Very Unhealthy | |
| Unhealthy | Gash Creek (est) |
| Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups | Florence (est) Lolo (est) Helena T8(8) Butte T8(8) Philipsburg (est) |
| Moderate |
Great Falls Vis(2) |
| Good |
|
T1(x) |
One-hour TEOM value (number of values) |
| T8(x) | Eight-hour average TEOM value (number of values) |
| T24 | 24 hour average TEOM value |
| Vis(x) | Visibility value (number of hours) |
| Vis(am/pm) | Visibility value from twice/day reporting stations |
Local impacts in areas immediately adjacent to active fires are expected to exceed some or all of the advisory levels. DEQ recommends the use of local visibility guidelines to evaluate possible health risks and make informed activity decisions.
Forecast
Southwest winds are pushing up into the state bringing clouds and some storms. This will improve the dispersion but Red Flag warnings for heat, wind, lighting and low humidity have been issued for much of southwestern and central Montana. This will continue to bring smoke from Idaho into the western part of the state and smoke concentrations could reach UNHEALTHY levels in some areas. Smoke trapped in the Bitterroot valley should mix out this afternoon for a while at least and conditions there will improve later today if the fire activity levels in Idaho do not substantially increase. Dispersion should be better tomorrow in most locations and we should get some rain out of the system moving in. Local impacts will be a concern today. Residents should stay aware of their situation and use the visibility guidelines to guide their activity decisions as the situation changes.
John Coefield
Meteorologist
MDEQ
