-> Connecting Direct Observations with Data & Forecasts
Unfortunately,
many children and their parents are looking out their windows these
days at smoke from wildfires. Some are staying indoors to protect their
lungs. This is a good time to give children the opportunity to compare
what they see and experience directly to the analytical data available
day by day on the internet to help us understand and predict what is
happening. For the scientific minded among us, of all ages, this can be
interesting. How is air quality measured? Defined? Represented on a
map? What kinds of visual representation do the children find most
useful? In Windy.com, what kinds of wind patterns do they observe, and
how do those wind patterns affect predictions of where the smoke will go
and what will happen to the contamination levels around their own
house? What seems to be the relationship between fire and smoke? What design features on a website make it easy to understand and
use?
-> Here are some online tools you may wish to explore together:
Smoke. An EPA Air Quality Index map: fire.airnow.gov/# . Click on a monitoring station dot to see the history of the Air Quality Index for that location. Some say PurpleAir is better than AirNow for Air Quality Index data. A PurpleAir air quality map: https://www.purpleair.com/map?opt=1/m/i/mAQI/a10/cC0#1/25/-30
Smoke & Wind. A really fun dynamic map, "Windy.com",
shows wind and smoke, and more. At the upper right, you can zoom in or
out with plus and minus buttons. On the right side of the screen, you
can choose the parameters you are interested in. For smoke, select
"PM2.5". The color scales are presented at the lower right. https://www.windy.com/-Show---add-more-layers/overlays?cams,pm2p5,41.971,-60.996,3
Smoke Forecasts. A regional dynamic fire smoke forecast map: https://firesmoke.ca/forecasts/current/
Data Retrieval by Zip Code. Retrieve your Air Quality Index by entering your zip code. This doesn't always work, but it's cool when it does. airnow.gov .
Fires. A map and data about specific fires: https://www.fire.ca.gov/incidents/
Podcasts and Blogs about Smoke and Weather. See the graphs and maps that are used by Professor Mass, and hear his thoughts as he reviews what is happening now, what he thinks will happen next, and why: https://cliffmass.blogspot.com/
Historical data.gispub.epa.gov/airnow/?xmin=-
Thought.Tools.Timpani@gmail.com
9.17.2020
