The Boundary Air Quality Committee has been gathering data on air quality for the past six months. Unfortunately there has been little analysis of the information to this date as MoE simply does not have the resources to complete this task. Nor has this information between combined with on the ground observations. The Canadian "voluntary" standard for PM 2.5 is a reading of 25 micrograms per cubic meter averaged out over a 24 hour period. Grand Forks has exceeded that standard several times during this time frame. The committee would like to invite the public to examine this data and combine it with their own observations and health events. The committee would also appreciate seeing any home made chart work that can be displayed easily on this site. Dated digital photos are also welcome. Please submit your observations to the committee by email.

This data has been supplied by Paul Willis at the Ministry of the Environment office in Cranbrook. The Tapered Element Osciallating Microbalance is on the roof of city hall in downtown Grand Forks. It is the only constant monitor installed at this time. Unfortunately MoE cannot make this data live on the internet through their own website at this time. The data is in the form of an Excel spreadsheet and is an hourly reading of the fine particulate matter less than 2.5 microns in ambient air.

July 27- Oct 10 , Sept 15 - Oct 25 , Oct 26 - Oct 30 , Nov 2 - Nov 6 , Nov 6 - 9 , Nov 10 - 14 , Nov 16 , Nov 20 , Nov 21 , Nov 23 , Nov 26 , Nov 28 , Nov 30 , Dec 1 , Dec 2 , Dec 3 , Dec 4 , Dec 5 , Dec 6 , Dec 7 , Dec 8 , Dec 9 , Dec 10 , Dec 11 , Dec 12 , Dec 13 , Dec 14 , Dec 15 , Dec 16 , Dec 17 , Dec 18 , Dec 19 , Dec 20 , Dec 21 , Dec 22 , Dec 23 , Dec 24 , Dec 25 , Dec 26 , Dec 27 , Dec 28 , Dec 29, Dec 30, Dec 31, Jan 1, Jan 2, Jan 3, Jan 4, Jan 5, Jan 6, Jan 7, Jan 8 , Jan 9, Jan 10, Jan 11, Jan 12, Jan 13, Jan 14, Jan 15 , Jan 16, Jan 17, Jan 18, Jan 19, Jan 20, Jan 21, Jan 22, Jan 23, Jan 24, Jan 25, Jan 26, Jan 27, Jan 28, Jan 29, Jan 30, Feb 1, Feb 2, Feb 3 , Feb 4, Feb 5, Feb 6, Feb 7, Feb 8, Feb 9, Feb 11, Feb 12, Feb 13, Feb 14, Feb 15, Feb 16 ,Feb 17, Feb 18, Feb 19, Feb 20, Feb 22, Feb 23, Feb 24, Feb 25, Feb 26, Feb 27, Feb 28, Mar 1, Mar 4-5, Mar 5-6, Mar 12-13, Mar 15-16, Mar 18-19, Mar 20-21, Mar 22-23, Mar 25-26, Mar 27-28, Mar 29-30, May 5-9, May 6-16, May 16-17, May 16-June 4, June 3-9, June 11-18, June 19-20, June 23-25, June 26-July 3, July 2-9, July 9-16, July 17, July 17-18, July 16-23, July 23-31, July 29-Aug 3, July 31-Aug 5, Aug 6-13, Aug 13-20, Aug 20-27, Aug 28-Sept 4, Sept 7-17, Sept 14-24, Sept 24-Oct 1, Oct 2-9, Oct 11-25, Oct 24-26, Oct 28-30, Oct 28-Nov 5, Nov 4-8, Nov 5-6, Nov 6-13, Nov 12-20, Nov 19-26, Nov 26-30, Nov 30-Dec 4, Dec 10-12 Dec 10-17, Dec 14-21, Dec 24-31.
2008 - Dec 31-Jan 7, Jan 7-14, Jan 14-21, Jan 21-28, Jan 28-Feb 4, Feb 4-12, Feb 10-18, Feb 18-25 .

Meteorological Data

This historical data has been supplied by Advance Orchards on the east side of the town from its own meteorological tower. This business uses the data to augment its pest management. As the business is also afected by the air quality, the owner Garfield Marshall is quite willing to share the data with the committee. The data is in the form of a text file and is a 30 minute constant reading of winds and precipation.

July 1 - August 30

Sept 1 - 30

Oct 1 - Nov 6

November 30

AWOS Data (Real Audio Version)

This tip is from Councillor Ann Gordon:

"One other indicator you can use is the AWOS on the airport 442-0043 This gives real time (Zulu or Greenwich) weather. Gives temperature and dew point, pressure, wind director and speed and visibility. The higher the pressure the clearer and colder/hotter. It usually means less wind. The lower the pressure the more likely to be an inversion layer over the City, cloudy, rain or snow and less wind. When the wind picks up it indicates a change in pressure or tight pressure gradient."

Wild Fire Comparisons

During the summer of 2006 the Ministry of the Environment compared the effects of the wild fires on the airsheds of several Kootenay communities. PM 2.5 as well as PM 10 were compared. It is easy to see how the different communties were affected and that Grand Forks was consistently high even before the wild fires. This file is a jpeg format and can be viewed with any graphics program.

Kootenay wild fires July 14 - August 24