Current Conditions: As of 2 PM on Thursday, the word of the day continues to be smoke, thanks to the ongoing forest fire situation across eastern Canada. The smoke that has infiltrated the Commonwealth continues to make its presence felt in terms of our air quality. As expected, the poor air quality conditions from this morning have reversed coarse somewhat. As the morning went along and the inversion, which helped to trap the high levels of PM 2.5 near the ground for a good portion of the morning hours, broke, the winds began to pick up as more vertical mixing occurred. The winds, in turn, forced PM 2.5 levels to drop drastically from the values recorded this morning. However, we are not completely out of the woods yet (pun not attended here). Over the past couple of hours, PM 2.5 levels have leveled off, resulting in more Code ORANGE – Code RED conditions instead of Code PURPLE conditions. For the rest of today, winds are not expected to increase drastically. Therefore, some level of smoke will still remain over the region. Then an inversion sets up shop this evening thereby keeping PM 2.5 concentrations in the Code RED range for today. In addition to PM 2.5, we are watching ozone, as levels have risen over the past few hours. That is the benefit of the thinning smoke signature allowing more sunshine and more photochemistry to occur. Expect continual improvements in the air quality tomorrow. *** Friday’s Forecast: So for Friday, expect the worse air quality conditions to persist during the morning hours as the smoke, which remained in place Thursday evening, carries over into the Friday morning. The plume that will be residing over the area will not be as dense as the one existing over the region on Thursday morning. Therefore, we do not expect PM 2.5 levels to be as high. Then, later in the day, the levels will drop as more mixing occurs. In addition, the threat of afternoon showers exist as a disturbance makes its way northwest to southeast across the area. These showers will also help PM 2.5 levels to drop. Afternoon temperatures will continue to be on the cooler side of normal, with highs ranging in the low 70s. It is the combination of the higher PM 2.5 that is expected during the day and the lower PM 2.5 expected during the afternoon that will help to keep PM 2.5 daily averages in the Code ORANGE range. Ozone levels will be in the good range thanks to the increased cloud cover limiting the photochemistry needed for ozone formation. |
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