Smoke Ready Week 2021

Hello out there! 

Summer has arrived! I’m sure you’ve all heard by now that we’re potentially looking at a higher than usual fire risk this year. It’s been pretty dry for the last couple months - the National Interagency Coordination Center Predictive Services predicts that almost our entire state will in the “Above Normal” category for significant wildland fire potential by July.

With that in mind, we’re going to kick off Smoke Ready Week by talking about smoke itself! 

Smoke is made of a mixture of gases and tiny particles. These tiny particles are called fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and are generally smaller than 2.5 microns in diameter. For contrast, a single grain of sand is around 90 microns and a human hair is typically 50-70 microns in diameter. That means these smoke particles are an astonishing 25 times smaller than your hair! Think about that next you smell smoke in the air.

Check back throughout the week to learn about the health effects of smoke, where to find more information about smoke and air quality, filters, and how to prepare for a smoky season. See you tomorrow!

Smoke Season is Ending!

Yesterday's AQI was in the GOOD category across the state and is expected to stay there for awhile. There could be smoke increases in California late this week or next week but we’re not sure it will reach us or even develop. If it did develop, it wouldn’t get here until 10/21 at the earliest and it would be short lived as the flow pattern would turn back to west/northwest by 23^rd or 24^th. All this to say, we believe the smoke season is ending! And what a season it was! We had several days of significant smoke impacts in August and September - mostly due to smoke traveling from California, Oregon, and Washington. 

Keep an eye on the air quality monitors if you are a smoke sensitive individual. The Woodhead fire is still burning but fire activity is minimal at this point. You can keep up to date on this fire and any others at https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/. This will give you information such as size, location, and fire activity. The top of the smoke blog or the DEQ main monitoring page can keep you informed of air quality at the monitor nearest you. This blog is seasonal and is not maintained daily during the off season. We check it for comments and needed updates to contact information but will not post regularly until the next wildfire season.

The National Interagency Coordination Center shows Idaho in the “normal” range for October. 

Clear skies!

It's finally clear. A rainy weekend scoured the smoke from Idaho and a west to northwest flow pattern will keep the regional smoke out of Idaho today. 

EPA Air Now Fire and Smoke Map:  Good air quality is present over Idaho and all of the Pacific Northwest this morning.

Scoured skies by tomorrow evening

Hazy conditions are expected to remain in place today as regional smoke increases in density and coverage to encompass all of Idaho. Surface smoke looks to remain over southern Idaho and expand north throughout the day into the Central Idaho Mountains while the Panhandle looks to remain relatively clear. A cold front will help to beginning clearing Idaho in the north tomorrow morning by 6 am. By 6pm, southern Idaho looks to be completely scoured. 

There's a chance that conditions will remain clear through the weekend and early next week thanks to anticipated northwest flow and precipitation through Tuesday. 

HRRR-Smoke 06z Near-Surface Smoke: Regional smoke encompasses all of Idaho this afternoon before clearing from north to south tomorrow.

Clear in the north, hazy in the south

Hazy conditions are present over southern Idaho. These conditions are expected to remain in place today as regional smoke increases in density and coverage to encompass all of Idaho. A cold front will help to clear northern Idaho this afternoon from north to south reaching as far south as the Salmon River while southern Idaho south of the Salmon should expect to see hazy conditions throughout the forecast period.  

HRRR-Smoke 00z Near-Surface Smoke:  Regional smoke encompasses all of Idaho this afternoon before clearing in the north tonight.