Seattle's Worst 24H Air Character On Record
Air character inward western Washington is real misfortunate correct now.
Incredibly, inward key Puget Sound it is in all likelihood the worst inward the nearly two-decade observing tape of the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency for whatever fourth dimension of the year.
I bring been hither a long fourth dimension in addition to I bring never seen anything this bad. The sentiment from the Seattle SpaceNeedle Panocam is murky (see below)
And the sentiment from my subdivision is real limited...no mountains in addition to can't fifty-fifty run across across the Lake.
But now, allow me actually print (or depress) you. Below is a plot of 24-h average particulate concentration (PM2.5) inward the atmosphere at the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency Duwamish site inward Seattle. The past times 24-h was the worst on tape for whatever fourth dimension of the year. Number ii was the smoky catamenia concluding summer.
Historically, Seattle has its worst air inward the wintertime from forest fume in addition to other combustion products, but today in addition to concluding twelvemonth were summertime maxima from wildfires--very dissimilar animals.
The observing site inward Tacoma besides had its tape inward the past times 24-h hours.
So why did our nigh surface air character become in addition to then bad in addition to then fast?
Fires were burning for quite a few weeks inward British Columbia, California in addition to eastern Washington, but western Washington had educate clean air at depression levels (off the Pacific) amongst fume aloft. But on Monday, surface high pressure level started to construct inward northward in addition to eastward of us (see map), resulting inward easterly in addition to northeasterly stream over the Cascades that brought the fume over in addition to downwardly the terrain into western WA--allowing fume to become to the surface.
I ran some low-level air trajectories ending inward Seattle at xi PM Tuesday night (using the NOAA Hysplit system). Air ending at 100 meters inward a higher house the metropolis came from smoky BC, piece air at yard meters were from eastern WA--both sources of smoke.
High pressure level aloft amplified simply offshore, resulting inward potent downward motions inward the lower atmosphere, which produced a subsidence inversion from the surface upward to nearly 3000 ft. The inversion (temperature increasing amongst height) was real obvious inward the balloon soundings at Quillayute, on the WA coast, in addition to from the Seattle profiler (see below). Inversions deed equally atmospheric lids, preventing the fume from mixing out during the day.
In short, nosotros had the "perfect storm" for wildfire fume unopen to western Washington. Lots of fires unopen to us, a meteorological province of affairs that pushed the fume to depression levels, in addition to the evolution of an inversion that kept the fume inward place.
As I write this (10 AM), the air quality inward Seattle is getting fifty-fifty worse (see plot)
EPA's AIRNOW site provides the v worst air character locations inward the U.S.A. of America each day. Well, today the Northwest possess ALL FIVE of these sites:
Chelan has a startling value of 211, amongst the balance correct behind.
Incredibly, historically bad air in addition to unhealthy for all. No running for me today. Expect real deadening improvement on Thursday.
Incredibly, inward key Puget Sound it is in all likelihood the worst inward the nearly two-decade observing tape of the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency for whatever fourth dimension of the year.
I bring been hither a long fourth dimension in addition to I bring never seen anything this bad. The sentiment from the Seattle SpaceNeedle Panocam is murky (see below)
And the sentiment from my subdivision is real limited...no mountains in addition to can't fifty-fifty run across across the Lake.
Historically, Seattle has its worst air inward the wintertime from forest fume in addition to other combustion products, but today in addition to concluding twelvemonth were summertime maxima from wildfires--very dissimilar animals.
The observing site inward Tacoma besides had its tape inward the past times 24-h hours.
So why did our nigh surface air character become in addition to then bad in addition to then fast?
Fires were burning for quite a few weeks inward British Columbia, California in addition to eastern Washington, but western Washington had educate clean air at depression levels (off the Pacific) amongst fume aloft. But on Monday, surface high pressure level started to construct inward northward in addition to eastward of us (see map), resulting inward easterly in addition to northeasterly stream over the Cascades that brought the fume over in addition to downwardly the terrain into western WA--allowing fume to become to the surface.
 |
| Surface map at 8 PM Monday |
High pressure level aloft amplified simply offshore, resulting inward potent downward motions inward the lower atmosphere, which produced a subsidence inversion from the surface upward to nearly 3000 ft. The inversion (temperature increasing amongst height) was real obvious inward the balloon soundings at Quillayute, on the WA coast, in addition to from the Seattle profiler (see below). Inversions deed equally atmospheric lids, preventing the fume from mixing out during the day.
As I write this (10 AM), the air quality inward Seattle is getting fifty-fifty worse (see plot)
EPA's AIRNOW site provides the v worst air character locations inward the U.S.A. of America each day. Well, today the Northwest possess ALL FIVE of these sites:
Chelan has a startling value of 211, amongst the balance correct behind.
Incredibly, historically bad air in addition to unhealthy for all. No running for me today. Expect real deadening improvement on Thursday.
Comments
Post a Comment