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Air Monitoring Particulate Data
2006 Forest Fire Air Quality Updates
August 21, 2006
10:00 AM
Current Situation
There is a lot of smoke overhead today and more is on the way. Almost all of the smoke is coming in from Washington, Oregon and Idaho. The only active fire this morning near Noxon is actually over the border in Idaho. It is very hazy in most areas and conditions are close to MODERATE in many locations but ground level concentrations are not expected to be a significant problem. The plumes aloft will mix down and produce temporary smoke impacts at the surface today. See the forecast below for details. The smoke visible on this morning’s satellite photo, centered on Great Falls, is mostly residual smoke from Saturday’s fire activity in Washington and Oregon. The smoke in the lower photo centered on Spokane is the smoke from yesterday(Sunday). Dispersion will be limited today and local smoke impacts could be a problem with any new starts. 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
Morning satellite photo centered on Spokane
MODIS picture from yesterday. Sunday Aug 20 2:30PM MDT
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 21, 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 | |
| Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups | |
| Moderate | |
| 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
The ridge will be moving slowly off to the east and the transport winds will be switching to the southwest by tomorrow. This will move a lot of the smoke from Washington north into Canada. Smoke from Idaho will continue to be a problem. It will get hot enough today in most areas to mix the smoke aloft down to the surface. This may produce MODERATE smoke concentrations at the surface under the thickest parts of the smoke plume. The winds will generally be light and dispersion will be limited so local impact from new starts or activity at the existing fires could be a problem. Residents near active fires should stay aware of their situation and use the visibility guidelines to guide their activity decisions as the situation changes.
John Coefield
Meteorologist
MDEQ
