Montana DEQ Forest Fire Smoke Advisory
Thursday, August 07, 2008
10:00 AM

FORECAST

There is a band of smoke stretching across central Montana from north to east this morning and a fair amount of general haze but the only station reporting elevated particulate readings is Missoula which is at UNHEALTHY this morning. There are likely also some local impacts immediately adjacent to the active fires in the state. Generally southerly flow will bring smoke from Idaho into the Bitterroot and western Montana this morning and if the fires in Yellowstone National Park have another big day that smoke will head right up into the Billings area. Residents experiencing local impacts should use the visibility guidelines to determine smoke levels in their area and guide their activity decisions.

DISCUSSION

Missoula is reporting UNHEALTHY levels of particulate this morning. The other sites are all at GOOD but haze is visible in many locations. Residents experiencing impacts from nearby fires should use the visibility guidelines to determine current conditions.

John Coefield
Meteorologist
Air Resource Management Bureau
Montana Department of Environmental Quality
406-444-5272
406-465-0835 (Mobile)

A satellite photo centered on Great Falls is illustrated below:satellite photo centered on Great Falls

This morning’s analysis from NOAA’s satellite services division shows the leading edge of the smoke plume from California north of Washington and the locations of the fires in Idaho and Yellowstone National Park. (the analyzed smoke is based on yesterday’s satellite coverage, the fire detects are based on last nights satellite coverage).

NOAA’s satellite image
Red indicates hot spot detected. Grey represents smoke seen by satellite. Fire size is exaggerated for visibility at this scale.

To identify individual fires on graphic above go here:
http://activefiremaps.fs.fed.us/lg_fire2.php

This morning’s smoke report is below, comparing particulate levels where we have information to MDEQ’s Forest Fire health advisory levels.

Locations and severity of forest fire smoke reports since midnight of the date above at reporting stations.

Real time particulate information is currently available in most of the larger urban areas from several different sources including: DEQ run PM-10 BAMS and PM2.5 BAMS, CS&KT run PM-10 TEOMS, NWS ASOS visibility monitors, and USFS remote access Nephelometers and BAMS.

These advisories represent conditions between midnight and 8 AM and may change substantially through the day.

HAZARDOUS  
VERY UNHEALTHY  
UNHEALTHY Missoula T(8)
UNHEALTHY FOR SENSITIVE GROUPS  
MODERATE  
T1(x) One-hour BAM value (number of values)
T8(x) Eight-hour average BAM value (number of values)
T24 24 hour  average BAM value
Vis(x) Visibility value (number of hours)
Vis(am/pm) Visibility value from twice/day reporting stations
(est) estimate