BC wildfire smoke continues to plague Portland air quality

BC wildfire smoke continues to plague Portland air quality

03 August 2017

Canada / USA – PORTLAND, Ore. A thick haze from wildfires in British Columbia continued to blanket Portland Thursday morning, all during a triple-digit heat wave.

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality has downgraded the air quality rating in and around the Portland metro area to unhealthy for everyone on Thursday morning.

On Wednesday it was considered unhealthy for sensitive populations, such as seniors, kids and people with respiratory problems.

Thousands of people in British Columbia have been evacuated as more than 100 wildfires throughout western Canada threaten homes.

Hundreds of wildfires have plagued western Canada during the past month. Winds pushed the wildfire smoke south into the northwestern U.S. Tuesday.

The smoke moved farther into the Portland area throughout the day Wednesday. By Thursday morning, the sky was filled with hazy smoke.

Air quality monitors in southwest Washington and Portland/Vancouver metro area have shown lowering air quality since Tuesday afternoon, the National Weather Service said.

The DEQ issued an air pollution advisory for Portland, Vancouver, Salem, Eugene and Medford Wednesday. The advisory is expected to last through August 8.

Smog, exacerbated by a record-breaking heat wave, added to air quality issues.

“A number of active wildfires conducive to increasing ozone and particulate matter levels are expected to linger through next week,” the DEQ said in a press release.

A fire is also burning in the Mt. Jefferson wilderness.

After morning swim lessons Thursday, Portland Parks and Recreation closed the city’s outdoor pools and pulled camps indoors due to the unhealthy air quality and the excessive heat warning. Outdoor pools will be closed all day Friday, August 4.

Indoor pools are open and on regular schedules.

Health officials warned people in the Portland metro area to avoid heavy or prolonged exercise outside, especially people who have underlying health conditions.

“These small particles are so small they can get down into the lungs and get into the blood stream,” said Dr. Richard Lehman, a public health physician with Oregon Health Authority. “When that happens that can lead to inflammation or irritation and if youve got underlying heart disease that can even trigger a heart attack.”

“Kids have small airways,” Lehman added. “And if they get swelling in their airways it makes it tougher for them to breathe.”

The Oregon Health Authority cautioned sensitive groups to stay inside and keep windows and doors closed, if possible, depending on heat. Keep the air quality clean by not frying or boiling food, which can add particles to indoor air. If you have to drive, run the air conditioner on “re-circulate” mode to keep smoky air from the car interior.

The smoke also impacted air quality in Clark County, Wash., officials said Wednesday afternoon. A pollution advisory has been issued for Southwest Washington and will likely continue through next week.

The air remained unhealthy south of Portland to Salem. The southern and eastern parts of the state have slightly better air quality.

The wildfires have caused air quality around Seattle to deteriorate to among the worst in the country, state officials told KGW’s sister station KING5.

There is a silver lining. Temperatures were forecast to reach the mid-100s in Oregon this week, but the weather service says if the smoke thickens it could cut temperatures by a couple of degrees.

An international team of climate researchers from the US, South Korea and the UK has developed a new wildfire and drought prediction model for southwestern North America. Extending far beyond the current seasonal forecast, this study published in the journal Scientific Reports could benefit the economies with a variety of applications in agriculture, water management and forestry.

Over the past 15 years, California and neighboring regions have experienced heighteneddrought conditions and an increase inwildfire numbers with considerable impacts on human livelihoods, agriculture, and terrestrial ecosystems. This new research shows that in addition to a discernible contribution from natural forcings and human-induced global warming, the large-scale difference between Atlantic and Pacific ocean temperatures plays a fundamental role in causing droughts, and enhancing wildfire risks.

“Our results document that a combination of processes is at work. Through an ensemble modeling approach, we were able to show that without anthropogenic effects, the droughts in the southwestern United States would have been less severe,” says co-author Axel Timmermann, Director of the newly founded IBS Center for Climate Physics, within the Institute for Basics Science (IBS), and Distinguished Professor at Pusan National University in South Korea. “By prescribing the effects of man-made climate change and observed global ocean temperatures, our model can reproduce the observed shifts in weather patterns and wildfire occurrences.”

Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2017-07-atlanticpacific-ocean-temperature-difference-fuels.html#jCpAn international team of climate researchers from the US, South Korea and the UK has developed a new wildfire and drought prediction model for southwestern North America. Extending far beyond the current seasonal forecast, this study published in the journal Scientific Reports could benefit the economies with a variety of applications in agriculture, water management and forestry.

3. August 2017/by GFMCadmin