11/24/16 USFS Air Quality Summary Report - WNC Wildfires

Monitoring: Portable PM2.5 monitors are currently placed in Robbinsville, Andrews, Franklin, Sylva, Hendersonville, and Marion. Permanent monitors are located in Bryson City, Spruce Pine and Asheville. Yesterday: Marion experienced hourly air quality values classified as Unhealthy (AQI Code Red) or Very Unhealthy (AQI code Purple) between midnight and 2:00PM. Asheville, Bryson City and Sylva saw levels in the Unhealthy range. Robbinsville, Spruce Pine, Andrews and Franklin experienced Moderate (AQI Code Yellow) air quality yesterday afternoon and into the evening.  Today: Asheville, Hendersonville and Marion may experience Unhealthy air quality and through the evening from several fires. Spruce Pine, Franklin and Morganton are expected to see levels in the Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups (USG) range. Murphy, Andrews, Robbinsville, Sylva and Waynesville are expected to see Good to Moderate air quality today. Tomorrow: Marion and Morganton are expected to see air quality in the USG range through the evening. Because of the shifting wind pattern, all of the other communities listed below will see decreased smoke activity. However, residual smoldering is likely to occur, affecting areas with an AQI Code of Yellow or Orange immediately downwind of ongoing fires.   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. Above 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 24th Thursday			AQI Nov 25th Friday	Comments
Murphy/Andrews	Good			Mod	Good to Moderate to Unhealthy air quality conditions are expected to continue throughout the day and evening at many communities across WNC. Hendersonville Asheville, and Marion are likely to see hourly AQI levels in the Unhealthy range today through this evening. A shift in wind direction should improve air quality tomorrow in most communities. Marion and Morganton are expected to see USG levels on Friday through the evening. Localized areas of higher concentrations may be present immediately downwind of all fires. Smoke from wildfires in SC and GA will disperse into our area, depending on wind conditions and fire activity.
Robbinsville	Good			Mod
Franklin	USG			Mod
Sylva/Waynesville	Mod			Mod
Asheville	Unhealthy			Mod
Spruce Pine	USG			Mod
Hendersonville	Unhealthy			Mod
Marion	Unhealthy			USG
Morganton	USG			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

 

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