9/26/12 Wildfire Smoke Forecast 0800 PDT

9-26-12 Air Monitor Update 0800 PDT

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

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

 

9/26/12 Wildfire Smoke Forecast 0800 PDT

Air Quality forecast, 8AM Wednesday 26 September 2012
Issued by Ranil Dhammapala, Washington State Dept. of Ecology

Wenatchee enjoyed relatively clean air for about half a day before smoke impacts returned last evening. Cashmere enjoyed clean air for a little longer than that, but spread over two installments. Presently Cashmere is recording Hazardous air, while air in Wenatchee is Unhealthy. Entiat, Pateros and Trout Lake are recording Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups, Chelan and Ellensburg are recording Moderate air, while other monitors along the east slopes of the Cascades are recording Good air. The Columbia Basin has a mixture of Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups, Moderate and Good areas, with many sites showing little fluctuation since yesterday.
Yesterday's forecast is still pretty much on track, with strong nighttime inversions, above normal daytime temperatures and light winds (mostly terrain-driven). Largest smoke impacts are expected near the fires while most other areas in eastern WA get impacted by smoke sloshing around. Light east winds return on Thursday and it is possible that these may bring some smoke from Idaho wildfires to the Palouse, Clarkston and Spokane. In general, expect some smoke impacts in the morning and nighttime, with some afternoon clearing in most places.
A weakening front is expected to do no more than increase clouds and winds on Friday night, but at least this will help with smoke dispersion. Strong ridging is expected over the weekend, implying a return to stagnant conditions and even the possibility of east winds bringing ID wildfire smoke to the far eastern parts of the state and a little WA wildfire smoke to western WA. This bears watching.
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