National Weather Service United States Department of Commerce

Lake-Effect Snow through Friday; Strong Winds in the Northern and Central Plains

A clipper-like system will drop down from Canada on Thursday, bringing wintry weather from the Upper Midwest to the Great Lakes through Friday. This system is expected to bring strong northerly winds to much of the northern and central High Plains Thursday afternoon through Friday, with gusts up to 60 mph expected. Read More >

Smoke dispersal is categorized by using the Ventilation Rate. Ventilation Rate forecasts for a specific point can be found using the Fire Weather Dashboard. Click a spot on the map and scroll down to find daily and hourly Ventilation Rate values for the next few days.

 

Fire Weather Dashboard

 

The link above is configured to display smoke dispersal categories as shown here:

 

  Smoke Dispersal Vent. Rate, knot-feet (x1000)
     Excellent             150 or greater
     Very Good 100 to 149.99
     Good 60 to 99.99
     Fair 40 to 59.99
     Poor less than 40

 

Ventilation Rate = Transport Wind (kts) Mixing Height (ft)