Department of Environmental Quality

Winter Air Quality Update & Forecast
Thursday, February 28, 2013 3:57 PM

Locations and Air Quality Conditions

Current Situation	Forecast
Air quality is generally GOOD across the state today. Strong winds from high in the atmosphere are creating windy conditions down at ground-level, especially in eastern Montana.	A ridge of high pressure will build into the region tomorrow. Temperatures will warm up again, but dispersion will be worse as this high pressure system builds. On Friday, dispersion will be moderate to poor in the valleys west of the Continental Divide. Windy conditions will prevail east of the Divide, so air quality will remain generally GOOD there. On Saturday, winds will die down state-wide as the high pressure system reaches its climax. Temperatures will be at their warmest on Saturday but dispersion conditions will be generally poor to moderate across the state. Some valleys in western Montana may even see MODERATE air quality. Unfortunately, the warm air will come to an end on Sunday as a weather system and cold front impact the state. Dispersion and air quality will become good in all locations and there will be widespread chances for snow. The effects of this weather system will last through Monday. We should see a small break in the active weather on Tuesday and possibly on Wednesday before another weather system starts to impact the state by the end of the week.
Lacey Evans State Air Quality Meteorologist Air Resource Management Bureau Montana Department of Environmental Quality Phone: (406) 444-0283 Email: levans3@mt.gov

This is the visible satellite image from 3:00 this afternoon. 




 
Tomorrow afternoon’s 3-hour average dispersion forecast from the Pacific Northwest Modeling Consortium.







 

Real time particulate information is currently available in most of the larger urban areas from MDEQ's Today's Air website.