South Mountain Gallery

To secure a representative gallery of observed air quality conditions for each scene monitoring site, a series of images are selected from the period of record and archived in several resolutions as an Image Gallery set.

The series of images making up the historical image gallery typically consists of:

Image spectrum consisting of a series of Excellent to Very Poor regional haze conditions, corresponding to deciview increments of the Visibility Index scale.
Seasonal images representative of pristine, scenic, or meteorological interest.
Unique representations of layered haze, regional haze, or pollution episodes of significant importance.

The South Mountain image gallery was last updated in May 2004. Check this page again for future updates.

Image Spectrum

The following images have been selected to represent regional haze conditions corresponding to the Excellent to Very Poor categories of the Visibility Index Scale.

Excellent
A clean December day with excellent visibility throughout the Phoenix monitoring region.
Good
Typical good visibility day in March with a slight milky appearance of regional haze over the South Mountain monitoring vista.
Fair
Typical fair visibility day in February with a moderate appearance of regional haze over the South Mountain monitoring vista.
Poor
Poor visibility day in February with significant enough regional haze throughout the South Mountain monitoring vista that the South Mountain ridgeline is no longer visible.
Very Poor
Very Poor visibility day in October with significant regional haze throughout the South Mountain monitoring vista. Note the South Mountain ridgeline and much of the downtown area is no longer visible.

Seasonal Images

The following images are representative of pristine, scenic, or meteorological observances of interest.

Pristine

December 16, 2003, 8:30 a.m.
Example of excellent visibility representative of the South Mountain monitoring vista.
Scenic

December 16, 2003, 6:00 p.m.
Example of a typical evening skyline for the South Mountain monitoring vista.
Scenic

December 20, 2003, 7:00 a.m.
Example of a typical morning sunrise for the South Mountain monitoring vista.

Unique South Mountain Gallery Images

The following images are representative of observed layered haze, regional haze, or pollution episodes of significant importance.

Layered Haze

October 11, 2003, 7:45 a.m.
Representative ground-based layered haze impacting the Phoenix metro region, as seen from the South Mountain monitoring vista, viewing 183° south.
Layered Haze

November 10, 2003, 2:00 p.m.
Representative ground-based layered haze impacting the Phoenix metro region, as seen from the South Mountain monitoring vista.
Layered Haze

November 13, 2003, 9:30 a.m.
Representative ground-based layered haze impacting the Phoenix metro region, as seen from the South Mountain monitoring vista.
Layered Haze

November 15, 2003, 7:30 a.m.
Representative ground-based layered haze impacting the Phoenix metro region, as seen from the South Mountain monitoring vista.
Layered Haze

December 24, 2003, 9:45 a.m.
Representative ground-based layered haze impacting the Phoenix metro region, as seen from the South Mountain monitoring vista.
Layered Haze

December 28, 2003, 9:15 a.m.
Representative ground-based layered haze impacting the Phoenix metro region, as seen from the South Mountain monitoring vista.
Layered Haze

January 29, 2004, 9:15 a.m.
Representative ground-based layered haze impacting the Phoenix metro region, as seen from the South Mountain monitoring vista.
Layered Haze

March 7, 2004, 7:30 a.m.
Representative ground-based layered haze impacting the Phoenix metro region, as seen from the South Mountain monitoring vista.

Regional Haze

December 21, 2003

Representative regional haze event that impacted visibility, as seen from the South Mountain monitoring vista viewing 183° south, on December 21, 2003.

10:30 a.m.
12:15 p.m.
3:30 p.m.

March 7, 2004

A regional haze event occurred during the morning of March 7, 2004 that could be observed from several Phoenix visibility Web cameras. Thirty-minute interval images depicting visibility as seen from the South Mountain monitoring vista are shown below.

6:30 a.m.
7:00 a.m.
7:30 a.m.
8:00 a.m.
8:30 a.m.
9:00 a.m.
9:30 a.m.
10:00 a.m.
10:30 a.m.
11:00 a.m.
11:30 a.m.

Pollution Episode (Dust Storm Event)

May 16 — May 24, 2003

Strong sustained winds produced significant amounts of blowing dust in April and May of 2003. The following views from the South Mountain Web camera depict fair to poor visibility conditions during the May 20 through 24, 2003 period.

May 20, 2003, 9:15 a.m.
May 21, 2003, 9:15 a.m.
May 22, 2003, 9:15 a.m.
May 23, 2003, 9:15 a.m.
May 24, 2003, 9:15 a.m.

Pollution Episode (Blue River Complex Fire)

July 13, 2003 — August 10, 2003

The 18,575-acre Blue River Complex fire included two lightning-caused fires and a blaze contained in June. The fire was located over 200 miles east of Phoenix and approximately 18 miles south of Alpine, Arizona. Smoke and reduced visibility that was observed from the South Mountain Web camera during the containment phase of the fire is depicted below.

August 5, 2003, 7:00 a.m.
August 6, 2003, 8:00 a.m.
August 6, 2003, 9:00 a.m.
August 6, 2003, 10:00 a.m.
August 8, 2003, 6:00 p.m.
August 9, 2003, 4:00 p.m.
August 10, 2003, 8:00 a.m.

Pollution Episode (Southern California Wildfire Impacts)

October 26 — November 9, 2003

In October of 2003, Southern California experienced the most devastating wildland fire disaster in state history. Over 750,000 acres burned. Smoke from the wildfires caused unhealthy levels of particulate pollution in a large expanse of Southern California and the Southwestern United States. Visibility in the Phoenix region was noticeably impacted from October 26 through November 9, 2003.

Below are selected 10:00 a.m. images depicting visibility conditions observed from the South Mountain Web camera from October 27 through November 8, 2003.

October 27, 2003, 10:00 a.m.
October 28, 2003, 10:00 a.m.
October 29, 2003, 10:00 a.m.
October 30, 2003, 10:00 a.m.
October 31, 2003, 10:00 a.m.
November 5, 2003, 10:00 a.m.
November 6, 2003, 10:00 a.m.
November 7, 2003, 10:00 a.m.
November 8, 2003, 10:00 a.m.