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Smoky skies return to Southeast Iowa
Regional governments warn residents against prolonged outdoor activity
WASHINGTON — The Iowa Department of Natural Resources issued an Air Quality Advisory for the state of Iowa Tuesday, highlighting the eastern third of the state as the area with the worst air quality expected through Wednesday, thanks to particulate levels the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency considers unhealthy.
“Fine particulate levels near or above EPA health standards are expected to increase throughout the day and persist through Wednesday,” an alert from the National Weather Service said Tuesday morning. “Elevated levels of fine particulates may be a concern over the next several days as the smoke moves through the state.”
On Social Media, the National Weather Service Station in Davenport said the haze was caused by smoke from Canadian wildfires, recommending that anyone outside for long periods of time wear a mask.
“We trended worse than forecast, with smoke now reaching the ground,” the station said on Twitter Tuesday morning. “Air Quality has reached Unhealthy Levels through much of the area.”
Website AirNow.gov pinned Washington and Henry County Air Quality Indexes at 187 Tuesday afternoon and 198 Wednesday morning, but did not have information on Fairfield. The EPA partner service said children, outdoor workers, older adults and people with heart disease should be especially cautious, advising that such populations “avoid strenuous outdoor activities,” “keep outdoor activities short,” and “consider moving physical activities indoors or rescheduling them.”
Another online resource, titled “AQI to Cigarettes Calculator,” said eight hours in such conditions would have similar health implications to smoking two cigarettes.
Washington County Emergency Management Coordinator Marissa Reisen said visibility was between one and two miles for a drone flying at 350 feet Tuesday afternoon.
A real-time map from monitoring company PurpleAir showed an Air Quality Index of 229 in Muscatine by 4 p.m. Tuesday, lowered to 202 by Wednesday morning around 9:30. Lake Sugema in Keosauqua went from an index of 183 to 184 in the same time. The EPA says a score of 50 is the threshold for “little to no risk.” Nowhere in the state fell below that level by the end of the business day on Tuesday, all the northwest corner of the state cleared up with indexes in the 40s by Wednesday morning.
Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com
