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Air Monitoring Particulate Data
2006 Forest Fire Air Quality Updates
August 31, 2006
10:00 AM
Current Situation
The heavy pall of smoke that covered a big portion of Montana yesterday has move off to the east but not before producing UNHEALTHY levels of particulate in many areas yesterday. In western Montana MODERATE levels of smoke remain in Missoula and Hamilton. The Derby Fire south of Big Timber was fanned to an estimated 100,000 acres yesterday and there still many active hot spots visible by satellite this morning. Smoke levels near this fire are expected to be UNHEALTHY or worse. The smoke from the Derby fire has been mostly pushed off to the southeast and is heavily impacting stations in Wyoming this morning. The Derby Fire will likely remain active today and produce a lot of smoke. See the forecast below for details. Local impacts could be severe today near the active fires, residents need 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 31, 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 | Derby Fire area (est) |
| Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups | |
| Moderate | Hamilton T8 Missoula T8 |
| 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
A ridge is building into the state from the west and this will produce northwest transport winds across the state by tonight. This should be a good wind direction for smoke levels in Montana as long as we don’t get any new activity upwind of us. Stagnant conditions will be a problem in many western valleys tomorrow morning and the inversions will be slow to lift. This could produce high levels of particulate in some areas. Residents in southeast Montana will be seeing a lot of smoke and haze today and need to watch conditions in their area and use the visibility guidelines to guide their activity decisions as the situation changes.
John Coefield
Meteorologist
MDEQ
