9/25/12 Wildfire Smoke Forecast 0800 PDT

Air Monitor Update 0800 PDT

              

Central Region, Ecology Air Quality Report                  Chelan County monitor locations: Wenatchee- “Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups” Leavenworth- “Good” Chelan- “Unhealthy”            Okanogan County monitor locations: Omak - “Unhealthy” Winthrop – “Unhealthy” Twisp-  “Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups”                Kittitas County monitor location: Ellensburg- “Good” Yakima County monitor location: Yakima- “Good” White Swan- “Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups” Toppenish- “Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups”                Klickitat County monitor location: Goldendale- “Good”   Eastern Region, Ecology Air Quality Report Blue Mt. Area Clarkston  -  unhealthy for sensitive groups Dayton  -   good Walla Walla  -  moderate Palouse Area Pullman  -  moderate Rosalia  -  good LaCrosse  -  good Northeast Colville  -  unhealthy for sensitive groups Wellpinit  -  moderate

USDA FOREST SERVICE Air Quality Report         Chelan County monitor location: Wenatchee- (Confluence Park)- “moderate” Cashmere- “Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups” Entiat- “Unhealthy” Okanogan County* (new) Pateros- “Very Unhealthy”            Grant County monitor location: Quincy-  Good“”           Kittitas County monitor location: Cle Elum- “Good” Klickitat County*(new) Trout Lake- “Unhealthy”           Eastern cont., Ecology Air Quality Report Columbia Basin Kennewick  -  moderate Mesa  - moderate Moses Lake  - unhealthy for sensitive groups Ritzville  - moderate Spokane Area Spokane, - unhealthy for sensitive groups Liberty Lake - unhealthy for sensitive groups

Another very useful webpage for grab hourly and 24 hour data, Puget Sound Clean Air and their air quality tool: http://airgraphing.pscleanair.org/

Remember the Eastern Washington Burn Ban remains effective through Sunday, September, 30, 2012.
Information Clearing House for Wildfire Information Updates: http://wasmoke.blogspot.com/

9/25/12 Wildfire Smoke Forecast 0800 PDT

Air Quality forecast, 8AM Tuesday 25 September 2012
Issued by Ranil Dhammapala, Washington State Dept. of Ecology

For the first time in nearly two weeks, none of the monitors in the state are recording Hazardous conditions. Pateros comes precariously close though- air quality there degraded somewhat yesterday and today while other nearby sites show an improvement in response to the passing front. Meteorological data in the area show winds picking up, but the sheltered location of Pateros probably resulted in smoke pooling in the area. Trout Lake, Winthrop, Omak, Chelan and Entiat remain Unhealthy, while Wenatchee, Cashmere, Twisp, White Swan and Toppenish (Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups) are clearing out quite well. Ellensburg, Cle Elum, Quincy, Leavenworth and Yakima all have Good air. Sites around the Columbia Basin vary from Good to Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups.

A front passing through eastern WA right now should help keep smoke levels in check through this evening. But sadly this improvement is short lived: a building ridge will cause a return to stagnant conditions through Friday. Strong nighttime inversions and light winds will ensure smoke sloshes around and causes the kind of impacts we have been living with over the last 2 weeks. Mild east winds return on Thursday and it is possible that these may bring some smoke from Idaho wildfires to the Palouse/ Clarkston areas. In general, expect some smoke impacts in the morning and nighttime, with some afternoon clearing in most places.

No significant precipitation in the 5-day forecast. Slight increases in wind speeds on Friday should help with dispersion in eastern WA.

A few areas in the south Puget Sound, SW Washington and the Olympic Peninsula might have smelled a whiff of smoke last morning as the inversion broke, but not enough to degrade air quality much. Wildfire smoke is not expected to push west of the Cascades, but with light winds over the next few days, expect a slight buildup of locally and regionally generated pollutants.

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

The Governor has extended a burn ban on all outdoor burning in eastern Washington through midnight Sunday.

 

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 grey