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Air Monitoring Particulate Data
2006 Forest Fire Air Quality Updates
August 25, 2006
10:00 AM
Current Situation
Smoke levels over most of the state are much improved this morning. Fire activity levels calmed significantly late yesterday and last night as a cool air mass that brought some showers dropped through the state. There is still smoke lurking under the clouds in some areas. Hamilton, Butte and West Yellowstone are both at UNHEALTHY FOR SENSITIVE GROUPS this morning. Missoula is at MODERATE and Dillon the same. Dillon was well up into UNHEALTHY for a while yesterday but the winds have moved the smoke out of town for now. The low pressure area will continue to move south with clearing from the north today. Sunny skies tomorrow will start the area warming back up and smoke production will increase. See the forecast below for details. Locally, smoke levels could still be a problem this morning. Residents near active fires are advised to 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
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 25, 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 | Hamilton T8 Butte T24 West Yellowstone T8 |
| Moderate | Missoula T8 Miles City Vis(1) |
| 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
Counter-clockwise rotation around the low pressure area dropping through state will be rotating smoke from the Clark Canyon and Derby fires in southern Montana up into the central part of the state today. We will have good dispersion and atmospheric scavenging with the showers and clouds but smoke levels will be sporadically noticeable in many areas through the day. The winds will switching around to the west and then southwest tomorrow and that will push more smoke into the state over the weekend. Local smoke impact will be a problem today. Residents near active fires are cautioned to pay attention to their situation and use the visibility guidelines to guide their activity decisions as the situation changes.
John Coefield
Meteorologist
MDEQ
