9/29/12 Wildfire Smoke Forecast 0800 PDT

9-29-12 Air Monitor Update 0800 PDT

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

Central Washington Air Quality Report from Forest Service Temporary Monitor Locations Chelan County: Wenatchee(Confluence Park)- Hazardous Cashmere- Very Unhealthy Entiat- Hazardous Okanogan County: Pateros- Unhealthy Grant County: Quincy-  Unhealthy Kittitas County: Liberty – off line Cle Elum- Good Klickitat County Trout Lake- Unhealthy Eastern cont., Ecology Air Quality Report Columbia Basin Kennewick  -  Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups Mesa  - Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups  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 a 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.

9/29/12 Wildfire Smoke Forecast 0800 PDT

Air Quality forecast, 8AM Saturday 29 September 2012
Issued by Ranil Dhammapala, Washington State Dept. of Ecology

     Other than Wenatchee (Very unhealthy) and Chelan (Unhealthy), other monitors at the Cascade foothills and Columbia Basin are reporting a mix of Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups, Moderate and Good. Several of the USFS temporary monitors have incomplete data this morning, so the WAQA categories are not current. At midnight, air in Cashmere was Very Unhealthy, while Entiat and the USFS Fire camp at Wenatchee Confluence Park was reporting Hazardous air. Other nearby monitors have shown a decline in more recent hours, so it is possible these areas are no longer experiencing Hazardous air. Pateros, Quincy and Trout Lake saw Unhealthy air at midnight, while Cle Elum reported Good air. 

     Most of western WA except the Olympic Peninsula saw a little smoke and haze yesterday but the front that moved in last evening has returned air quality at all but two monitors to Good. Most monitors at the Cascade foothills have shown a downward trend over the last few hours in response to this front. Expect clearing to continue through Saturday evening and bring some relief to the smoke impacted communities of the Cascade foothills today. However the smoke will blow through the Columbia Basin while dispersing. Winds die down tonight and become more terrain-driven on Sunday and Monday, meaning nighttime and morning smoke in several areas with daytime clearing. 

     No easterly winds are expected, so there is no threat of Idaho wildfire smoke over the next few days, nor is smoke likely to move into western WA. A strong cold front is expected to move through eastern WA around Tuesday but doesn’t appear to contain a huge amount of precipitation.
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

  - when browsing the monitoring web page, 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