Sunday, September 14, 2014 Meadow Fire Area Impacted by Courtney Fire Smoke Plume

For the full Meadow Fire Smoke Impact Summary click here.
For the latest graphs of particulate date from Yosemite Valley click here.
Fore the latest graphs of particulate data from other Central Sierra sites click here.

Figure 1: NOAA Hazard Mapping System showing smoke plumes at the end of the day on Sept. 14th.  The 350-acre Courtney Fire near Bass Lake is sending smoke across the Meadow Fire.  Another new fire near Coulterville was stopped without any major smoke production.  The King Fire in the American River Canyon is sending dense smoke over Lake Tahoe and Reno.  

Yesterday Morning smoke in the Merced River Canyon was lifted out around 10-11am in most places. This lingering nighttime diurnal smoke caused light general haze near the Merced River Canyon. Yosemite Valley was in the Moderate AQI range for both the 3- and 24-hr. rolling averages all day yesterday.  Devil’s Postpile and Tuolumne Meadows were in the Moderate Range for the 24-hr. PM2.5 average yesterday, reflecting lingering haze along the Sierra Crest.  All other stations were in the Good AQI range for both 3- and 24-hr. averages.

Today Increasing transport winds and scattered clouds helped scour smoke from the Merced River drainage today, and decreasing fuel consumption continued to improved visibility in Yosemite Valley.  All nearby particulate monitoring sites began the day in the Good AQI range for 3-hr. average PM 2.5 concentrations and remained there all day (no data from Oakhurst), except for Yosemite Valley, which was briefly in the Moderate AQI range right after midnight. The 24-hr. average concentrations in Yosemite Valley stayed in the Moderate range all day.   

Tomorrow Smoke transport will be similar to today, however 24- and 3-hr. PM 2.5 concentrations are forecasted to improve, so long as suppression efforts are successful. Firefighters continue to face increasing winds, but humidity recovery and daytime low RH are increasing with the increasing onshore flow. The 3-hr. rolling average PM2.5 concentrations in nearby communities should remain in the Good 24-hr AQI range throughout the day, unless they are impacted by new nearby fires. Tuolumne Meadows and Devils Postpile, as well as Lee Vining, will all be impacted by smoke from the fire outside of Oakhurst, which is sending a plume over the Sierra Crest and Mono Lake.

Table 1: Observed and forecast 24- and 3-hour rolling average Air Quality Index (AQI) values for Sept.14^th (observed), Sept 15^th (forecast) for communities with air quality monitors. Oakhurst BAM is not reporting, but there is a strong likelihood Oakhurst will be impacted by the Courtney Fire tomorrow.

Table 2: PM2.5 1-hr. (point data) and 24-hr rolling average (line) plotted along with daily acres burned on the Meadow Fire.

Sunday, September 14, 2014 - King Fire - Pollock Pines - Eldorado County

Graphic from NWS's Sacramento Facebook Page

Sunday, Sept. 14th, 2014, Wildfire Air Quality Report for the Klamath Region

The full Klamath Wildfires Smoke Impact Summary for today is avaialble here

This report is available as a PDF here

Yesterday Fort Jones and Seiad Valley reached “Unhealthy” level while Macdoel reached “Unhealthy for Sensitive Group” yesterday.  This was mostly due to the Southwesterly transport wind speed that brought smoke from the fire to these communities.  Today Conditions are forecast to be similar to today as smoke will be pushed North and Northeast again. Smoke concentrations are likely to remain high in the upper Klamath River drainage north of the fires and in Scott Valley. Tomorrow Stronger southerly wind is forecast for the day.  Smoke will be pushed north. Smoke concentrations are likely to remain high in the upper Klamath River drainage north of the fires.
Site	September 14 Yesterday’s AQI	September 15 Today’s AQI	September 16 Predicted AQI	Likely Time of Highest Impacts Today
Yreka	Moderate	Moderate	Good	Afternoon/Early Evening
Fort Jones	Unhealthy	Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups	Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups	Afternoon/Early Evening
Etna	Moderate	Moderate	Moderate	Evening
Macdoel	Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups	Moderate	Moderate	Late Afternoon/ Evening
Seiad Valley	Unhealthy	Unhealthy	Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups	Early Afternoon
Happy Camp	Moderate	Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups	Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups	Early Afternoon
Somes Bar	Good	Moderate	Moderate	Afternoon
Orleans	Moderate	Moderate	Moderate	Afternoon
Wietchpec	Good	Good	Good	Afternoon
Hoopa	Good	Moderate	Good	Late Afternoon/Evening
Willow Creek	Good	Moderate	Good	Evening
Mt. Shata	Good	Moderate	Good	Evening
Weed	Moderate	Moderate	Moderate	Evening
Sawyer's Bar	Good	Moderate	Good	Late Morning
PLEASE NOTE: 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.

For more information visit http://californiasmokeinfo.blogspot.com/