In late January, a weather satellite captured a stream of dust lifting off the Great Salt Lake near Farmington Bay and drifting southeast toward Salt Lake City.
The satellite imagery shows a “great example” of how narrow those plumes can be, said Rachel Edie, an environmental scientist with the Utah Department of Environmental Quality.
“It kind of looks like a piece of spaghetti,” said Edie, adding that sensors not directly downwind won’t sense or measure the skinny bands of dust.
It also illustrates how tricky it can be for the state to measure dust pollution from the plumes using its existing network.
Two sensors near the airport measured elevated levels of PM10, or particulate matter like dust measuring less than 10 microns in diameter. But the average measurement at those sensors showed roughly 90 microns per cubic meter that day, which was still below the health standards of 150 recommended by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Readings during the storm could have been much higher.
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This article is published through the Utah News Collaborative, a partnership of news organizations in Utah that aims to inform readers across the state.
