Smoke maps and the West
I wrote this in email to a friend, but then I figured it might be useful to others, after some small edits.
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If you google 'smoke maps', they usually use 3 colors to show degree of smokiness. This summer I have had the opportunity to learn what each color FEELS like, so I will share that for trip planning purposes.
The lightest color is negligible. It's like the air in any city on a normal day. It looks bad on the map, but really it's nothing.
The darkest color, you do not want to go outside. This from me, who is normally outside all day. Camping in it... well, you would just leave. You would not stay. I've only had one day like this, this summer, and it was mighty unpleasant.
The middle color is ok to be outside and camp in, but would mess up your scenic views. This has caused me to change my plans dramatically more than once, this year.
HTH, and good luck :).
Edit:
Here are some of the maps I have found useful. I haven't seen any that are updated every day, most seem to be twice a week, but on different days, so if you use 3 sites you can get pretty much every day.
alg.umbc.edu/usaq/
http://wildfiretoday.com/tag/smoke/
http://airnow.gov/index.cfm?action=topics.smoke_wildfires
Here's a site that claims to have a smoke FORECAST, but I couldn't get it to work. Maybe someone else can, and tell us how?
http://airquality.weather.gov/sectors/conus.php
--
If you google 'smoke maps', they usually use 3 colors to show degree of smokiness. This summer I have had the opportunity to learn what each color FEELS like, so I will share that for trip planning purposes.
The lightest color is negligible. It's like the air in any city on a normal day. It looks bad on the map, but really it's nothing.
The darkest color, you do not want to go outside. This from me, who is normally outside all day. Camping in it... well, you would just leave. You would not stay. I've only had one day like this, this summer, and it was mighty unpleasant.
The middle color is ok to be outside and camp in, but would mess up your scenic views. This has caused me to change my plans dramatically more than once, this year.
HTH, and good luck :).
Edit:
Here are some of the maps I have found useful. I haven't seen any that are updated every day, most seem to be twice a week, but on different days, so if you use 3 sites you can get pretty much every day.
alg.umbc.edu/usaq/
http://wildfiretoday.com/tag/smoke/
http://airnow.gov/index.cfm?action=topics.smoke_wildfires
Here's a site that claims to have a smoke FORECAST, but I couldn't get it to work. Maybe someone else can, and tell us how?
http://airquality.weather.gov/sectors/conus.php
