Here's Missoula City-County Air Quality Specialist Sarah Coefield's latest report for Sunday morning, August 20th:
"Good morning, The air quality in Missoula was good this morning, but only for a few hundred feet.
If you looked up, or say, tried to look at a mountain, you could see smoke from the Lolo Peak Fire hanging above us, ready to come down and ruin breakfast. Typically, inversions are bad. We go on about the pollution trapped under the inversion in Missoula so often that it's become part of Missoulians' vernacular. ("The Inversion" is a recurring team name in one of my hockey leagues. True story.) And if you look at Seeley Lake or Florence this morning, you can see that yes, those inversions are bad and causing terrible air quality. In Missoula, however, the stratification created by the inversion prevented Lolo Peak smoke from entering our breathing space (until the inversion breaks, which it's starting to do as I write this. Then all that smoke will come crashing down.) Hooray Missoula inversion!
Update: Air quality is now Unhealthy in Missoula. One would think that after cheering for an inversion it would be nice and stick around for a few minutes, but nope!
When air quality is Unhealthy, people with heart or lung disease, smokers, children and the elderly should limit heavy or prolonged exertion and limit time spent outdoors. People with asthma should follow their asthma management plan. People experiencing symptoms of heart or lung disease associated with smoke exposure should contact their health care provider.
We are likely to see smoky conditions in Missoula until later this afternoon when convective lift helps move the smoke up and some nice northwesterly breezes (hopefully) arrive to push away whatever remains. We're entering a period of more atmospheric stability, though, so I don't want to promise clean air by 4 p.m. It should, however, be less awful than this morning.
Missoula was not alone in having breathable air this morning. Conditions were also Good to Moderate in Frenchtown, Rock Creek and the Swan Valley. Air quality in these areas will deteriorate as overhead smoke mixes down this morning. Also, Rice Ridge smoke that's trapped in the Seeley Lake valley may lift up and hit the Holland Lake area once the inversion breaks in Seeley Lake. Smoke impacts should be pretty temporary for the Swan Valley - conditions should improve relatively quickly and there aren't any significant smoke sources headed that way at the moment. Aside from some potential Canadian haze, it should be a pretty ok air day in the Swan. If Rock Creek ends up under the Lolo Peak plume again, they may have continued smoke impacts throughout the day.
Smoke from the Sunrise Fire may mix down and create Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups conditions in Frenchtown and the Ninemile area, but at the moment, if you're in Missoula and looking for relief from the smoke, head west.
Smoke from the Lolo Peak Fire is filling the Bitterroot Valley in Florence. Air quality in Florence was Very Unhealthy this morning and is starting to improve to Unhealthy as the inversion breaks. We've lost touch with the Lolo monitor, but conditions in Lolo may be similar to what we're seeing in Florence.
When air quality is Very Unhealthy, people with heart or lung disease, smokers, children and the elderly should avoid heavy or prolonged exertion and stay indoors when possible, people with asthma should follow asthma management plan. People experiencing symptoms of heart or lung disease associated with smoke exposure should contact their health care provider. Everyone else should limit prolonged exertion and limit time spent outdoors.
Conditions in the Bitterroot should continue to improve this morning as temperatures rise and smoke is able to leave the valley floor. However, there may be continued smoke impacts this afternoon due to surface winds being generally from the direction of the Lolo Peak Fire and transport winds sending Idaho smoke to the Bitterroot Valley.
Rice Ridge Fire smoke is, once again, filling the Seeley Lake Valley, and conditions in Seeley Lake are Hazardous. This is the 15th morning of Hazardous air quality in Seeley Lake since August 1st. As a reminder, when the NowCast hits 250 ug/m3, we classify an area as having Hazardous air quality. At 8 a.m., the NowCast was 547.9 ug/m3 - more than twice what we already know to be Hazardous.
When air quality is Hazardous, all people should limit or avoid outdoor exertion and leave the area or stay indoors with filtered air when possible. Anyone experiencing symptoms of heart of lung disease associated with smoke exposure should contact their health care provider. The Health Department has recommended Seeley Lake residents get out of the smoke if they are able to. You can find the official recommendation and some helpful resources online here.
When the inversion breaks later this morning, Seeley Lake will see a rapid air quality improvement.
If you look closely at the satellite this morning, you can see some Rice Ridge smoke starting to work its way down drainages that don't lead straight to Seeley Lake. As the Rice Ridge Fire moves farther east, there are likely to be increased smoke impacts in the Clearwater Junction/Ovando area from smoke that rolls down and settles in the Cottonwood and Dunham Creek drainages.
The Liberty Fire sent smoke into Arlee this morning, where conditions are Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups. There is also smoke from Liberty in the Potomac Valley and Clearwater Junction. Conditions in these valleys may also be Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups or worse.
When air quality is Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups, people with heart or lung disease, children and the elderly should limit prolonged outdoor exertion.
Overall, expect fluctuating air quality this morning. When inversions break we should see some improvement in valleys that are filled with pooled smoke, but there is deteriorating air quality in valleys that earlier enjoyed little pockets of good air quality underneath smoke-filled skies. We are all likely to see smoke at some point this morning. Conditions should improve later this afternoon due to convection lifting smoke up and out of our breathing space.
However, the improvement will be temporary. Look for more smoke tonight when smoke starts to descend to the valley floors. Also, don't forget about Canada! There is still northwest flow aloft that is escorting Canadian smoke closer to Missoula County. When it arrives, there may be increased haze throughout the area."
