EXPERIMENTAL SOUTHWEST AREA WILDLAND FIRE SMOKE IMPACT AWARENESS PAGE
| The following basic resources are available to identify ongoing large wildland fire locations, observe related smoke and smoke plumes, and provide a 48-hour outlook of smoke plume behavior and potential air quality impacts. (Many additional resources are available and some will likely included as development continues). |
DYNAMIC LINKS ARE INCLUDED ON THIS PAGE, SO USE CTRL-F5 TO RELOAD THE PAGE IF INFORMATION APPEARS OUTDATED
| Description: Map of reported current (red) and controlled (yellow) large fires. Clicking on one of the balloons reveals the fire name, size, fuel type(s), and a variety of other information. Most fires emanating smoke with large-scale or long-term air quality impacts will be shown on this map. |
| Description: Map of smoke and/or dust as analyzed by satellite, along with accompanying descriptive text narrative. Useful for observing large-scale, generalized areas of smoke and/or dust suspended in the atmosphere that may or may not have significant impacts on surface air quality. |
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| Description: Animated visible satellite loop centered over the Southwest U.S. Useful for observing smoke pooled in low lying areas in the morning and for seeing smoke plumes off of large fires in general. Significant air quality impacts are most likely beneath and downwind of observed plumes in general, and near the fire location at nighttime. |
| Description: Model forecasts showing simulated smoke plume trajectories from fixed locations across the Southwest U.S. This estimates how smoke plumes, given fires at each of the starting locations marked by stars, would stream out over a 24-hr period. This is useful for seeing how far and in what general direction smoke from wildland fires is likely to transport, similar to looking at a visible satellite image late in the day if numerous large fires were ongoing across the region. Important – This DOES NOT simulate surface smoke or air quality impacts, just how far and in what direction smoke is likely to travel. |
| Description: NOAA model forecasts of hourly surface smoke concentration as a result of large wildland fires. Model accounts for size and location of large fires, general fuel types they are burning in, and transport and dispersion of smoke downwind. While this model is known to generally overestimate surface smoke concentration, the areas impacted and relative concentrations are useful. For example, while the red areas in the image below are not likely to see surface smoke concentrations of over 100 micrograms/cubic meter…they ARE likely to have significant impacts relative to the areas depicted as gray or white. | ||
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0600 MDT DAY 1 Smoke Concentration Forecast |
1800 MDT DAY 1 Smoke Concentration Forecast |
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0600 MDT DAY 2 Smoke Concentration Forecast |
1800 MDT DAY 2 Smoke Concentration Forecast |
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