Vermont Air Super Polluted From Canada Forest Fires, Also Flood Update

A hazy view Saturday evening looking southwest from
Pleasant Street in West Rutland, Vermont. Air quality
alerts remain in effect in most of the Green
Mountain State today due to Canadian wildfire smoke.

 The air in Vermont was downright dangerous, at least for some people on Saturday. 

Smoke from Canadian forest fires settled down from aloft to the surface in Vermont and surrounding areas.

 Light winds through the atmosphere could not disperse the smoke so it enveloped the green landscape of Vermont.  

So much so you couldn't see the damn landscape. 

The air quality index in some part so Vermont exceeded 150, which is unhealthy for everyone. This is rather rare among the big, increasingly frequent smoke outbreaks we've had in recent years from wildfires.

An index of 101 to 150 is unhealthy for sensitive groups, and can trigger problems in people with cardiovascular disease or asthma and things like that.

Over 151 and everybody starts to feel it. Some members of the general public could feel health effects, and people in more sensitive groups might have more serious effects. 

WCAX-TV meteorologist Gunnar Consol said on Facebook Saturday that being outdoors in Vermont for three hours on Saturday had the health equivalent of smoking one fourth of a cigarette. 

It's not just us, of course. Air quality alerts are scattered across many places in the United States and Canada, including much of New York and all of Minnesota. 

At least 50 percent of the southern half of Canada is under air quality warnings or advisories. 

TODAY 

The air quality alert for Vermont  remains in effect today for all of Vermont. 

Forecasters say the air quality should gradually start to improve a little as we go through the afternoon, but the problem almost certainly won't go away. 

Northwest breezes should mix the air more than Saturday's calm winds, which would disperse some of the smoke. But the smoke itself is coming at us from the northwest, which would replenish the supply of particulate pollution. The bottom line is any improvement today will be a slow and incomplete.

According to Airnow.gov, expected air quality indexes in Vermont should on average range between 110 and 140, or unhealthy for sensitive groups.  Of course, the air quality will vary, sometimes going higher based on wind conditions and terrain and maybe sometimes a little lower, especially late in the day. 

Even healthy people will certainly notice the haze, and be bothered by the poor air quality.  Even if  you're the picture of health, this is no day to run an outdoor marathon.

MONDAY AND BEYOND

Winds should start to blow from the south and southwest over Vermont on Monday, which would help clear the air by driving much of the smoke back north into Canada. More south winds, along with lots of rain showers, should continue to help on Tuesday. 

This is a temporary solution, of course, as long as the fires continue to rage in Canada.  Northwest winds should return later in the week, which could bring the smoke back. We'll need to wait and see on that one. Updated forecasts should be available on any new smoke attacks within a couple days.

Once upon a time, we used to look forward to northwest winds in the summer. Those winds will bring clean, dry cool air into Vermont, keeping oppressively, sticky humid air at bay.

With the increase in wildfires, brought on in large part by climate change, those northwest breezes are no longer always as welcomed as they once were.

FLOODING UPDATE

We're still getting reports and updates about the flash flooding that hit parts of southeast Vermont Friday and Friday night. 

In turns out Springfield, Vermont was hit pretty hard. Video from WPTZ shows a sections of a couple gravel roads completely washed away after the downpours. Repeated floods last summer washed out one man's driveway three times. It happened again Friday. 

More soaking rain fell Saturday morning in southern Vermont. Burlington reported just a sprinkle, amounting to a mere trace of rain. It was barely enough to keep the streak going: Twenty-fifth weekend in a row with at least a bit of precipitation and 12th Saturday in a row with at least a trace of rain

It's way too early to determine whether Vermont will see any rain next weekend. 

More rain is in Vermont's forecast for Tuesday. It doesn't look like it will be enough to cause more flood damage. But we'll watch it anyway. There's always the possibility that weather systems can slow down enough to make downpours overstay their welcome in Vermont. So far, though, it looks like we're good.