A reality based independent journal of observation & analysis, serving the Flathead Valley & Montana since 2006. © James Conner.

28 August 2015

Do only mad dogs and Montanans go out in the midday smoke?

Update, 1530 MDT. The graph now displays data through 1400 today. There’s not much sun at solar noon — the coughing hour — this week, but there’s certainly plenty of smoke. That, as displayed by the graph below, is when the particulate concentration in the Flathead has been peaking.

Historical note. After Mount Saint Helens erupted in May, 1980, fine ash from the eruption filled the Flathead Valley. At its peak concentration, the load of total suspended particulates in the Flathead was at least 7,366 µg/m^3 (in Washington, loads triple that were reported). The now defunct Kalispell Weekly News, mixing up its units, reported the total particulate load was 7,366 megagrams per cubic inch, an error of almost 18 orders of magnitude. Data for ≤ 2.5-micron particulates for the Saint Helens ash in the Flathead may exist, but I have yet to locate that information.