11/21/16 Air Quality Summary Report - Wildfires in Western NC

For a downloadable, printable pdf version, click here

Joint Information Center: 828.575.2840, http://ncjic.blogspot.com/

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 Good (Green) PM2.5 levels throughout the day. Monday: Levels of fine particulate matter across western NC are currently in the Good range. Winds will push smoke to the east early in the day and to the south later in the evening. Because of new fire activity in McDowell County, Marion may experience air quality in the Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups (USG, Code Orange) range. Tomorrow:  Residual smoldering is likely to occur, impacting areas with AQI Code Yellow or Orange immediately downwind of ongoing fires.  Winds will shift, blowing smoke to the north/northeast. 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 21st Monday			AQI Nov 22nd Tuesday	Comments
Murphy/Andrews	Good			Good	Air quality conditions are predicted to be generally good at the communities listed with the exception of Marion, which may experience elevated concentrations in the Code Orange range due to the Clear Creek fire in McDowell County. Winds will shift tomorrow to out of the south / southwest, with the possibility causing Code Yellow or Orange short-term conditions in Franklin, Marion and Morganton. Localized areas of higher concentrations may be present immediately downwind of all fires.
Robbinsville	Good			Good
Franklin	Good			Mod
Spruce Pine	Good			Good
Asheville	Good			Good
Rutherfordton	Good			Good
Marion	USG			Mod
Morganton	Good			USG
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/\