granitestate6 OP t1_j8o2sil wrote on February 15, 2023 at 6:58 PM

Reply to comment by TheCloudBoy in Is Ohio toxic cloud heading our way? by granitestate6

Wow!! Thanks so much! (Love that nerdy stuff!)

LassieMcToodles t1_j8s2le4 wrote on February 16, 2023 at 3:37 PM

Thanks OP for asking this question, and u/TheCloudBoy for answering it.

It really ticks me off that we have to turn to each other to find answers that should have been readily and quickly given to us by those at the top. "Where is it headed/where and when did it go?" are basic questions that countless numbers of us have been wondering for days, but heaven forbid those in charge come out and thoroughly address and answer them.

TheCloudBoy t1_j8s5wv1 wrote on February 16, 2023 at 3:59 PM

I've had similar issues with the dissemination of critical information about this controlled burn from the beginning, the town hall in East Palestine last night was revealing and shows folks there are even more frustrated about this.

Let's focus on the HYSPLIT modeling I've shown and another pair of images released by NOAA ARL (Air Resources Laboratory) referenced in another post below. The moment this burn was ignited, ARL was supporting the local NWS forecast office and other government agencies by running a high-resolution HYSPLIT WRF nest over that burn. Essentially, as new info about the burn and weather analysis data came in, they were running new plume dispersion forecasts, likely at least 4 times a day but probably once an hour. None of these frequently updated data were readily visible to the public to my knowledge, which is totally unacceptable.

LassieMcToodles t1_j8s7ntq wrote on February 16, 2023 at 4:10 PM

>which is totally unacceptable

Indeed.

(And now, years later, I'm wondering where all of the Lac-Megantic train wreck cloud blew, as HELLO! we were directly south of that one.)

TheCloudBoy t1_j8sb3sa wrote on February 16, 2023 at 4:33 PM

The HYSPLIT modeling ARL offers allows you to run archived parcel trajectories and dispersion, I'm half-tempted to run one to see where all that smoke ended up.

I'll keep this next statement as apolitical as possible: multiple facets leading up to and during the response to this disaster should show all of us how corrupt entire agencies and the broader U.S. government have become, regardless of which party has control.

Look at how this train wasn't classified as carrying very hazardous materials, the arresting of local journalists covering the event, the complete silence by multiple federal agencies for nearly a week (eerily similar to the Soviet Union during Chernobyl), a failure to share critical information in a timely manner, covering for a private company clearly in the wrong (eerily similar to Japan covering TEPCO during Fukushima-Daiichi), I can keep going.

thenagain11 t1_j910c0r wrote on February 18, 2023 at 12:11 PM

Their news is saying it's most likely dust/dirt from dust storms in Texas and Oklahoma. Apparently, these types of storms push a lot of junk high into the atmosphere, and it takes a while to float back down- which could explain why it got all the way to New england maybe?

What do you think?

TheCloudBoy t1_j91nkel wrote on February 18, 2023 at 3:36 PM

I very much agree with CT DEEP's assessment that what we saw in CT is from other systems in the Southern Plains. Those particles lofted into the atmosphere are (depending on the exact size) very ideal as cloud condensation nuclei, which are particles that water vapor condenses to and form larger water droplets. These droplets then fall to the ground in larger storms, which we've seen a few times now. Given we've had a few predominant low-level SW flow regimes prior to this report, I'm even more convinced it's dust from the Plains.

granitestate6 OP t1_j8sw008 wrote on February 16, 2023 at 6:46 PM

Ohio is telling people at ground zero to return home, it's all good, yes? What can those residents do?