8-12-14 Air Quality Report

Smoke Synopsis:
Stagnant conditions of recent days are a little less prominent today as a weather system off the Oregon coast was spinning moisture and greater instability across eastern Washington on Monday night and Tuesday.  The atmosphere will become very unstable Tuesday afternoon and night with the possibility for lightning, heavy showers, and gusty outflow winds from thunderstorms.  Wednesday will be slightly cooler with more cloud cover, but it will still be fairly warm and humid and another round of strong thunderstorms are possible Wednesday afternoon and night. Yesterday saw some of the worst air quality over the region in several weeks.  Smoke dispersion will improve a little today and Wednesday, but overall air quality improvement this week is expected to be gradual in most locations.  Smoke from fires outside the state may occasionally impact cities close to state borders, to varying extents. Western Washington mostly remained smoke free until plumes from eastern Washington drifted over the Cascades yesterday. Areas along the Puget Sound corridor might continue to see smoke over the next few days, mostly from local wildfires.
Air Quality Outlook:
Site	Tuesday August 12, 2014	Wednesday August 13, 2014	Thursday August 14, 2014	Comments
Colville	USG	USG	USG
Wellpinit	USG	USG	USG
Omak	Very Unhealthy	Very Unhealthy	Unhealthy
Malott	Unhealthy	Unhealthy	Unhealthy
Brewster	Unhealthy	Unhealthy	Unhealthy
Winthrop	Unhealthy	Unhealthy	Unhealthy
Twisp	Unhealthy	Unhealthy	Unhealthy
Chelan	Unhealthy	Unhealthy	Unhealthy
Entiat	Unhealthy	Unhealthy	Unhealthy
Plain	Unhealthy	Unhealthy	Unhealthy
Leavenworth	Unhealthy	Unhealthy	Unhealthy
Wenatchee	USG	USG	USG
Ellensburg	Unhealthy	Unhealthy	Unhealthy
Yakima	Moderate	Moderate	Moderate
NOTE – in table above “USG” stands for “Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups” For detailed information about the color coded air quality categories, please see:  Washington Air Quality Advisory for Smoke and Other Fine Particle Air Pollution En Español:  El Índice de la Calidad de Aire de Washington para Humo y Otra Contaminación del Aire causadas por Partículas Finas
Warning: These data have been obtained from automated instruments and have not been subjected to a quality assurance review to determine their accuracy. They are presented for public awareness and should not be considered final. Conditions such as power outages and equipment malfunctions can produce invalid data.
1 Since wildfires often occur in remote areas, air monitoring equipment may not be available. The following table provides a quick method to assess air quality in your area. For more detailed information you can go to the following site: http://www.deq.state.or.us/aq/burning/wildfires/visibility.htm