Stay informed about air quality

The first step in protecting yourself from smoke is to check air quality and check it often! There are so many options for checking air quality: 

• Here! You’ve already found the smoke blog. We post daily smoke forecasts and there is a map of monitoring data up top. 

• 
  

• AirNow Fire and Smoke Map. This map includes low-cost air sensors, temporary and regulatory monitors, projected smoke plumes, and smoke outlooks created by air resource advisors assigned to major wildfires. 

• 
  

• Idaho DEQ Real-Time Monitoring Map. This map is updated hourly and is maintained by Idaho DEQ. 

• 
  

• Air Idaho App. Plan to be on the move? Download our app to keep up-to-date on air quality even when you aren’t home.  

What do you know about smoke?

What do you know about smoke? If you’ve lived in the West for at least one summer, you probably know wildfires produce a lot of it! But did you know smoke can travel for hundreds of miles and affect people nowhere near a wildfire? Did you know that smoke is full of teeny tiny particles? We’re talking many, many times smaller than a single grain of sand, smaller even than dust or red blood cells. 

Wildfires aren’t the only source of smoke. All fires – campfires, fireplaces, woodstoves, industrial fires, BBQs, even candles – produce smoke which contains these tiny pollution particles.  

Are you Smoke Ready?

Next week is Smoke Ready Week across the Northwest! Check in each day as we talk about smoke, health, and how to protect yourself!

Air Quality Advisory Issued for the Nez Perce Reservation

 

Continued hazy skies and some surface smoke

Air quality was in the GOOD to MODERATE category yesterday and is forecast to be in the GOOD to UNHEALTHY FOR SENSITIVE GROUPS category through the weekend.

Idaho will remain under a broad high pressure ridge until the next low pressure system starts to impact the area on Sunday. Daytime heating and instability will result in isolated afternoon and evening showers and thunderstorms over the elevated terrain. Shower and thunderstorm chances will increase on Sunday with the next system. Afternoon winds over much of the state will be light and variable with primarily northerly and easterly components through Saturday before they pick up with the incoming system on Sunday.

Numerous fires in Canada (mostly in the province of Alberta, north of Idaho) continue to create widespread haze over Idaho with smoke reaching the surface across much of the state, including valley locations (the smoke has been traveling down the Snake River Plain from east to west due to northerly winds in the eastern half of the state). Smoke is forecast to remain at the surface until the next system starts to clear it out on Sunday.

RAP-NCEP-Smoke Near Surface Smoke initialized 15Z (9am MDT) 19 May 2023 and valid at 6pm MDT 20 May 2023 shows light smoke impacts at the surface over parts of north Idaho and much of south Idaho.