24 hour averages for PM2.5 in Salt Lake City and Ogden for June 23 – 25. (click to enlarge)

US smoke map for June 23 from NOAA. (click to enlarge)

Air Quality – June 2026 Report
By Richard Menzies and Ken Beck - 12 July 2026
 
Our computer program broke again, but we are back (thanks to AI) in time to report on the smoke that we have witnessed along the Wasatch Front in June. As you can see the 24 hour averages for PM2.5 were elevated in Salt Lake City and Ogden for June 23 – 25.

A smoke map for the US for June 23 from NOAA shows the Salt Lake City area being heavily blanketed in smoke from the Cottonwood and Iron fires down in southern Utah.  These were the largest fires in the US and the smoke plume extended across the country down into Florida.

Because of the warm winter and low snowpack we are probably in for a bad wildfire season and could be subjected to a lot of smoke. The AirNow.gov website gives a lot of good information about active fires, smoke plumes and health advice.  The smoke contains fine particles (less than 2.5um or ~1/30 the diameter of a human hair) which can cause symptoms from  eye and respiratory tract irritation to pulmonary inflammation, brochitis, asthma attacks and even heart failure.  Typical symptoms are itching or watery eyes, scratchy throat, irritated sinuses, runny nose, congestion and coughing. If the fire spreads into Wildland Urban Interface and homes are burnt man made materials can add to the toxic load. It is reported that most healthy adults and children should recover quickly from short term exposure to the smoke, however people with existing conditions or who are pregnant should take precautions.

The most common advice is to stay indoors, close windows, run the the central air system with a highest efficiency filter appropriate for the system or use room air cleaners (that do not produce ozone). If in a vehicle run the AC in recirculation mode. If people must go outside wearing a well-fitting N95 mask is an option.

Remember the data that we have plotted are the 24hr averages but it is the actual value at the time that you need to go outside that is important and also the value at ground level may be lower than the value in the smoke plume that is aloft.  Consulting the purple air monitors (map.purpleair.com) that are widely distributed about the Wasatch Front is a good way of finding out how bad the air actually is. (Although of course smelling and looking at the air is normally a good enough indicator!).

There is obviously nothing that we can do to limit the smoke in our Valley, all we can do is make sure that we minimize any additional contributions to the pollution, by limiting driving, idling etc.

As always if you have any questions or suggestions, please contact us at [email protected] or [email protected]