11/20/16 Western NC Air Quality Summary Report

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Monitoring: Portable PM2.5 monitors are currently placed in Murphy, Robbinsville, Andrews, Franklin and Rutherfordton. Permanent monitors are located in Bryson City, Spruce Pine and Asheville. Yesterday: All the areas monitored yesterday in Western NC saw Moderate (AQI Yellow) to Good (Green) PM2.5 levels in the morning, with improvements to Good (AQI Green) across the entire area in the afternoon. Sunday: Levels of fine particulate matter across western NC are currently in the Good range. Winds will continue to push smoke to the east-southeast of all fires. Tomorrow:  Residual smoldering is likely to occur, impacting areas with AQI Code Yellow immediately downwind of ongoing fires.  Winds are still predicted to be out of the northwest and smoke from wildfires in Tennessee may blow into the far western communities. North Carolina Division of Air Quality (DAQ) Air Quality Forecast:  NC DAQ issues an air quality forecast for the entire state each day. Their forecast is for broad geographical areas and is complementary to our more community-specific focus which looks at localized short- term impacts due to the wildfires. To the right is the NC DAQ forecast map for today. Note that DAQ may update its forecast throughout the day at  https://xapps.ncdenr.org/aq/ForecastCenter.
Site	AQI Nov 20th Sunday			AQI Nov 21st Monday	Comments
Murphy/Andrews	Good			Good	Air quality conditions are predicted to be generally good at the communities listed. Localized areas of higher concentrations may be present immediately downwind (east-southeast) of fires.  Strong winds will continue throughout today, with the possibility of increased smoke production into tomorrow. It is difficult to predict emissions from the fires after the wind event is over but at this time it is anticipated that levels will remain primarily good in these communities.
Robbinsville	Good			Good
Franklin	Good			Good
Spruce Pine	Good			Good
Asheville	Good			Good
Rutherfordton	Good			Mod
Marion	Good			Good
Morganton	Good			Good
Disclaimer: Conditions may change quickly; these predictions are based on anticipated weather and fire activity. AQI estimates for sites do not represent a full 24 hour time period but, rather, reflect a period of time within the day where smoke impacts would be greatest.
Air Quality Index (AQI) Levels of Health Concern			What the Index means for your health with regards to particulates from smoke
Good			None
Moderate (Mod)			Air quality is acceptable; however, for some pollutants there may be a moderate health concern for a very small number of people.
Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups			Although general public is not likely to be affected at this AQI range, older adults and children are at greater risk from the presence of particles in the air.
Unhealthy			Everyone may begin to experience some adverse health effects, and members of the sensitive groups may experience more serious effects.
Very Unhealthy			Health warnings of emergency conditions. The entire population is more likely to be affected.
Hazardous			Health alert: everyone may experience more serious health effects.

For more information about North Carolina air quality updates:  https://xapps.ncdenr.org/aq/ForecastCenter
For more information about National Forests in North Carolina: https://www.facebook.com/nfsnc/\