Wildfire Smoke and Your Health

Alright, the time has come again to talk about smoke and your health. We’re talking wildfire smoke. That big ugly haze that hangs over our heads so much of the time we go outside in late summer when we’re supposed to lounging by the pool with a cool drink in our hand, reading a light book, relaxing without a care in the world. I digress. It’s not news to tell you that wildfire smoke isn’t good for you. Particulate matter and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are the two main components of smoke that are likely to affect your health when wildfire season rolls around.

Over the next several days I want to share with you what I’ve learned about wildfire smoke from the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, as well as the Department of Environmental Quality -what makes up smoke, how do we measure its pollutants, how you can be prepared for it, and what can you do to lessen your exposure? On my next post in this series I will talk about what VOCs are and what you can do to remove them from your home. Hope to see you again and until then kick back with a good book and relax (inside the house with the AC going, of course)!

Looking Ahead

The National Interagency Fire Center (based in Boise, Idaho) puts out a monthly fire potential outlook. Here are the outlooks for September and October.

Fairly good weekend on the way

Impacts from smoke today can be expected to be confined to upper level haze over southwestern Idaho and northeast into central and northern Idaho due to winds from the southwest bring smoke from the fires still burning in California and Oregon. This looks to continue on Saturday with increasing coverage to all of southern Idaho as the winds come from the west. Optimistically, it looks as though the Panhandle and parts of central Idaho will clear out during the afternoon tomorrow. 

Saturday night into Sunday, the Panhandle looks to be impacted by smoke from Washington with clearing in the afternoon. South Idaho should expect to see similar conditions to Saturday. By Monday, north Idaho again looks to clear while south Idaho will still have smoke aloft. All weekend, we look to be more impacted by transport smoke rather than smoke from local fires.

This image shows the modeled smoke aloft over Idaho this afternoon (09/07/18 4pm MDT). It shows a large plume of smoke being transported into southwest and central Idaho from Oregon and California.

Data Source: Bluesky USFS AirFire.

Local impacts with a bit of haze down south

Smoke impacts today are expected to be extremely localized and greatest (while still remaining relatively light) over the central and southern Panhandle and south to Latah County while the remainder of the state is expected to remain clear with upper level haze evident over southern Idaho thanks to southwesterly winds and fires burning in CA/OR. Over night, drainage into the Upper Snake via the Big Lost and Little Lost should be expected, but will dissipate in the early afternoon.

This image shows expanded smoke coverage from the southern Panhandle and south into the Camas and Weippe Prairies.  The rest of the state remained clear.

MODIS Today Terra Visible Imagery for 09/05/2018. Data Source: University of Wisconsin

Not a lot of smoke, some haze

Smoke impacts today are expected to be extremely localized and greatest (while still remaining relatively light) over the central and southern Panhandle while the remainder of the state is expected to remain clear with upper level haze evident over southern Idaho due to the southwesterly winds and fires burning in CA/OR.

This image shows very limited smoke coverage within the Purcell Trench which corresponds to elevated AQI values for that day.  The rest of the state remained clear.

MODIS Today Terra Visible Imagery for 09/04/2018. Data Source: University of Wisconsin