Friday, September 21, 2012

9/21/12 Wildfire Smoke Forecast

Washington Air Quality Advisory (WAQA) Chart:

Ecology Air Quality Monitoring Network Map: https://fortress.wa.gov/ecy/enviwa/Default.ltr.aspx
  -note, click on the dots and you can then click on View more information to find out the latest hourly values even if the dot is gray
              
Central Region, Ecology Air Quality Report
              
               Chelan County monitor locations:
Wenatchee- “Hazardous”
Leavenworth- “Very Unhealthy”
Chelan- “Unhealthy”

               Okanogan County monitor locations:
Omak - “Moderate”
Winthrop – “Unhealthy”
Twisp-  “Unhealthy”

               Kittitas County monitor location:
Ellensburg- “Very Unhealthy”

               Klickitat County monitor location:
Goldendale- “Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups”

Eastern Region, Ecology Air Quality Report

Blue Mountain Area
Clarkston  -  “Unhealthy”
Dayton  -   “Moderate”
Walla Walla  -  “Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups”

Palouse/Spokane Area
Pullman  - “Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups”
Rosalia  - “Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups”
LaCrosse  -  “Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups”
Spokane  -  “Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups”
Deer Park  -  monitor down
Northeast
Colville  -  “Good”
Wellpinit  -  “Moderate”
Columbia Basin
Kennewick  -  “Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups”
Mesa  - “Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups”
Moses Lake  - “Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups”
Ritzville  - “Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups”
USDA FOREST SERVICE Air Quality Report

           Chelan County monitor location:
Wenatchee (Confluence Park)- “Hazardous”
Cashmere- “Hazardous”
Entiat: “Hazardous”

           Grant County monitor location:
Quincy- “Unhealthy”


          
          Kittitas County monitor location:
Cle Elum- “Unhealthy”

Another very useful webpage for grab hourly and 24 hour data, Puget Sound Clean Air and their air quality tool:

Remember the Eastern Washington Burn Ban remains effective through Monday, September, 24, 2012 .

Air Quality forecast, 8AM Friday 21 September 2012
Issued by Ranil Dhammapala, Washington State Dept. of Ecology

Western WA has cleared out well under the stronger marine push and will stay that way today. Air quality in the Columbia Basin and the Palouse/ Spokane has been deteriorating very gradually over the last few days and is mostly in the "Unhealthy for sensitive groups" category this morning. Air in these areas may improve slightly but not hugely, Saturday evening through Sunday evening.

The areas of serious concern- located at the eastern foothills of the Cascades- continue to remain problematic. Air in Wenatchee has remained in the "Hazardous" category for several days now, with each day being a little worse than the previous. Cashmere and Entiat are in a similar situation, while Leavenworth, Ellensburg, the upper and lower Yakima Valley and Chelan have been recording Very Unhealthy conditions. This scenario is not expected to change much over the next few days.

The approach and passage of a low pressure system Friday night through Saturday evening gives rise to a small threat of dry lightning in the Washington Cascades mostly south of Lake Chelan. Given the dry fuels in the area, we can only pray that there won’t be new fires for the already stretched firefighters to contend with.

Some cooler temperatures are on tap for eastern WA next week and this should help reduce fire activity, but the kind of soaking rain needed is a notable absentee from the forecast.

The National Weather Service issued an Air Quality Alert for much of eastern Washington:
http://forecast.weather.gov/wwamap/wwatxtget.php?cwa=otx&wwa=air%20quality%20alert

No comments:

Post a Comment

We monitor this site during business hours, Monday through Friday, 8AM to 5PM. We encourage your questions, comments, and feedback. We ask that everyone be respectful of the opinions of others, and avoid comments that are defamatory, inappropriate or off-topic. If you have an emergency, please call 911.

We moderate all comments to prevent spam. Your comment will publish upon review