08/02/13 Smoke Forecast for Friday (8/2) through Monday (8/5)

Even though we have had several wildfires in Idaho, as well as in Oregon, Washington, and Montana, Idaho’s air quality has not deteriorated beyond the moderate AQI category.

3 emergency monitors are installed in Idaho to help monitor smoke impacts from wildfires:

·         DEQ installed a monitor in Challis for the Lodgepole fire. The information can be found at http://app.airsis.com/USFS/ Choose monitor #Idaho1004

·         The USFS installed monitors in Lowman and Atlanta.  The information can be found at http://www.wrcc.dri.edu/cgi-bin/smoke.pl

o   Lowman monitor is Smoke#19

o   Atlanta monitor is Smoke#13

o   Users should be aware that the Forest Service site reports the data in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).  To convert from UTS to Mountain Daylight Time, subtract 6 hours.

Five large wildfire are now burning in Idaho. 

Fire Name	Location	Start Date/Cause	Current Size (acres)
Ridge fire	15 miles north of Lowman	July 16 by lightning	5,270
Lodgepole fire	10 miles west of Challis	July 20 by lightning	19,960
Gold Pan Complex	35 miles southwest of Conner, MT in the Bitterroot National Forest	July 16 by lightning	16,138
Papoose Fire	40 miles west of Salmon	July 8 by lightning	9,459
Thunder City fire	4 miles northeast of Stibnite, ID	July 19 by lightning	1,510

Smoke Forecast through Monday (8/5)

Wind directions across the state are generally from the southwest on Saturday switching to Northwest on Sunday and west-northwest on Monday.  Transport winds will generally be light at 6-12 mph.  Areas to the east and north (Saturday) south (Sunday) of smoke sources as well as drainage basins will experience light to moderate smoke impacts.  However, during the day, mixing heights should be high enough to elevate and disperse any wildfire smoke in the valleys. 

·         North and central Idaho (Coeur d’Alene, Pinehurst, St. Maries, Moscow, and Lewiston) might see light to moderate smoke impacts from the Washington fires through the weekend, depending on how active the fire is.  However, air quality should remain in the good category throughout the weekend.

·         Challis and Salmon can expect some light drainage smoke from the Lodgepole fire.  Air quality should remain in the good to moderate categories throughout the weekend.