Air Quality Forecast - Chelan Lake & Methow Valley Fires - Thursday, August 27, 2015

Air Quality Forecast - Chelan Lake & Methow Valley Fires       Thursday, August 27, 2015

Prepared by: Carolyn Kelly, Air Resource Advisor Trainee (ckelly8384@gmail.com) 

                                    Andrea Holland, Air Resource Advisor (andreahollandsears@gmail.com)           

Note: Air monitors in Brewster and Manson are up and running. Look for their data at wasmoke.blogspot.com Thursday: Yesterday, burnout operations on the Cougar Creek Fire, southwest of here, added additional smoke to areas near the Chelan Lake and Methow Valley Fires. Today, the smoke will gradually lift with the inversion with slight improvement in air quality.  However, strong winds in the morning will result in greater fire activity and generate more smoke which will settle in valley communities later in the afternoon and through the evening.  Friday:  Light winds will be insufficient to cleanse smoke from affected communities. Smoke is likely to affect these areas more towards the evening as it settles into the valleys. Any burnout on the Cougar Fire could bring additional smoke into our area. Saturday: A frontal passage is expected to bring strong winds and some rain.  This may provide communities downwind of the fires some relief from smoke conditions seen earlier in the week.
Site	August 27 Air quality – Thursday	August 28 Air Quality – Friday	August 29 Air Quality – Saturday	Comments
Chelan	Unhealthy	Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups	Moderate	Thursday will see a lift in the smoke by late morning but a return to unhealthy conditions in late afternoon as smoke settles into Lake Chelan area.
Manson	Very Unhealthy	Unhealthy	Moderate
Winthrop	Unhealthy	Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups	Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups
Twisp	Very Unhealthy	Unhealthy	Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups
Brewster	Very Unhealthy	Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups	Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups
Leavenworth	Moderate	Moderate	Good	Smoke from Cougar Fire will linger in this area and bring more smoke on Friday.
Wenatchee	Moderate	Moderate	Good	Smoke from Cougar Fire will linger in this area and bring more smoke on Friday.
Disclaimer: Conditions may change quickly. These predictions are based on anticipated weather and fire activity.  The air quality outlook is based on data from automated instruments that have not been subjected to a quality assurance review. AQI’s estimated for sites with air monitors.

Webcam looking up Lake Chelan  http://www.fsvisimages.com/fstemplate.aspx?site=okwe3_fire1

For information on what each air Quality Index color code means,  click on the “Smoke and Health” tab.