- Fairbanks is known as the Nation’s city with the worst air quality
- The wildfire is scary close
- Summer concentrations are worse than those in winter
- A bit about air quality regulation
- Look of the day
- Top of the World Style linkup No. 213
- References
Disclosure: There are affiliate links in this post.
Fairbanks is known as the Nation’s city with the worst air quality
When you are a regular reader of my blog you have certainly read my posts about Fairbanks’ winter air quality problem and that Alaska doesn’t guarantee pristine air. When you just recently joined the High Latitude Style Tribe you may have read about the bad air quality on an evening on the deck at the Last Frontier.
Huge efforts are made to reduce winter air pollution. In winter, temperatures are so low that nobody gets outside to breath the air. Only at 40 below, Fairbanksans go out in a bikini for a photo which is just 5 minutes or less. In summer, air pollution due to wildfires is often much worse than air pollution due to local emission accumulated under the inversion in winter. However, in summer, people are outside. They mow their lawn, play, grill, hike, canoe, or just sit on their decks to catch some sun rays to build up their vitamin D levels (for surviving the winter without getting seasonal depression syndrome or cabin fiver).
Nothing is done against the wildfires. It is just let-it-burn until human life, structure or historic monuments are endangered. In winter, we are asked to not burn wood when there is an air-pollution alert. It’s to protect our health and that’s a good thing! However, what’s the catch? Shouldn’t the fires be fought to protect our health in summer? Long-term exposure can also endanger human life!

The wildfire is scary close
Currently, there are two fires burning in the Fairbanks vicinity. Depending on the wind direction, Fairbanks is under the influence of their smoke. The image below shows the smoke over Fairbanks on June 27, 2019 in the visible range as seen by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard of NASA’s Terra satellite. There are two large areas of light brown smoke from the Shovel Creek and Nugget Creek wildfires northwest and northeast of Fairbanks, respectively. The red hot spots are heat signatures indicative of fires. Both fires started by lightning strikes. Officials are expecting the fires’ smoke to affect Fairbanksans in the next weeks. In plain English, until August when the so-called Alaska monsoon sets in. Note it’s not really a monsoon, but August is our wettest month.

There are firefighting activities in the Murphy Dome area. One of my students and one of my girlfriends as well as several colleagues live in this area. The Nugget Creek fire is 35 miles northeast of Fairbanks around Mile 30 Chena Hot Springs Road in the Chena River State Recreation Area. Some friends and colleagues live in this area.
When a white night becomes dark you know there is a fire
When we got back to the parking lot after dancing until 10:45 pm on Saturday night, the Sun was pink (see photo below). Moreover, the lights of the street lamps were on. They all have a light sensor. On a typical summer night, no street lights are on. This means the ash and PM in the air dimmed the light so strong that the sensors behaved like they do at dawn: Switch on the lights.

Ash snowed like after the St. Augustine volcano eruption in 2006
On Sunday morning, ash fell onto our deck. You could literally see it fall. It looked like snowing. The air smelled like you are licking an ashtray. Well, Interior Alaska summers smell like a huge bonfire.

Summer concentrations are worse than those in winter
The diagram below bases on the raw data of the NCORE measurements in Fairbanks downloaded from EPA. You can see the first peak that related to my post on an evening at the Last Frontier. Note that it was called moderate pollution! The pollution went down below the NAAQS when the rain set in and washed out the ashes and particles. To keep the air in our house at bay we run our AirFree air purifier 24/7.
A bit about air quality regulation
For my international readers let me quickly define the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS). The NAAQS for particulate matter less or equal to 2.5 μm in diameter – called PM2.5 98th percentile, averaged over 3 years, is 35 μg/m3. Note that PM2.5 is 70 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair. Various medical publications connected severe health issues to short and long term exposure to PM2.5. Note that the World Health Organisation recommends 25 μg/m3 not to be exceeded.
Particulate matter less or equal to 10 μm in diameter is called PM10. The 24 hours average PM10 NAAQS not to be exceeded more than once per year on average over 3 years is 150 μg/m3. The white and gray ash flakes that you see on our deck in the photo below are greater than several mm (1 mm = 0.0393701 inch).

Look of the Day
The photos for the look of the day were taken prior to the poor air quality episode. You can see the clear blue sky in the background of some of the summer outfit photos. I went for a posh, but comfy graphic tee with floral skirt and wedge sandals look in Pantome colors of the year. What are you wearing on these hot summer days? Just curious.

While you are here, don’t forget to register for my free newsletter to be among the first to know about new posts, and to get info on how-tos and special style subjects!!
Top of the World Style Linkup party
Welcome to the 213th Top of the World Style linkup party! Thanks for coming. The awardees are:

Imogen of Inside Out Style is the Top of the World Style Winner.

Gail Hanlon, the blogger at Is This Mutton linked a post that showed various summer work looks.

Salzar at 14 Shades of Grey became Top of the World OOTD My Fav with her red floral summer dress.
Congrats Ladies! Grab your buttons for your awards page or sidebar.
See these awesome outfit ideas at the Top of the World Style #linkup party. #OOTD Click To Tweet
Another way to be featured at the Top of the World Style linkup party is to co-host the party. If you are interested in co-hosting send me an email so we can discuss the details.
Do you want to host your own party?
References
Tran, H.N.Q, Mölders, N. (2011). Investigations on meteorological conditions for elevated PM2.5 in Fairbanks, Alaska. Atmospheric Research, 99, 39-49. doi: 10.1016/j.atmosres.2010.08.028.
Mölders, N., Fochesatto, G., Edwin, S. and Kramm, G. (2019) Geothermal, Oceanic, Wildfire, Meteorological and Anthropogenic Impacts on PM2.5 Concentrations in the Fairbanks Metropolitan Area. Open Journal of Air Pollution, 8, 19-68. doi: 10.4236/ojap.2019.82002.
Photos of me: G. Kramm
© 2013-2020 Nicole Mölders | All rights reserve
Hi, Nicole – Great commentary! I’m glad you’re speaking up and I wish you the best of health. You are more gorgeous than ever and I hope your health is going along with it. It certainly looks like it because it’s obvious that your dancing is doing you well. XO, Angie – your true self blog
Just love your colorful skirt and it picks up some of the colors in that vibrant tee! And, you def. do love to dance! 🙂 Interesting! I am always concerned about air quality, I have asthma and my kids both do too and it really does make a difference.
Carrie
That’s really interesting. I didn’t realize that this was such a problem in Alaska. Cute skirt too.