PlumePrintthe air keeps its own recordsMethods

PlumePrint · JEFFERSON · ORANGE County

Port Arthur and Beaumont

Monitor 48-245-0011, 2021 to 2025, against every emission event filed in JEFFERSON or ORANGE County. Wind is measured at the monitor itself.

Unexplained episodes

265 / 377

episodes with no matching report

Unseen releases

95 / 103

reported releases the monitor never clearly saw

Matched episodes

12

episodes a filed report does explain

PERIOD:
41 episodes · 26 reports (≥1,000 lb)
TOP — what facilities told the regulator: self-reported events listing SO2 (bar height ~ log of pounds)12 of 26 reported releases ≥ 1,000 lb SO2 never lifted the monitor above 2 ppbExxonmobil Beaumont RefineryPort Arthur RefineryOther facilitiesPORT ARTHUR REFINERY · incident 392454 · 52,126.87 lb · FAINTPORT ARTHUR REFINERY · incident 392422 · 15,969.61 lb · FAINTPORT ARTHUR REFINERY · incident 392571 · 14,560.94 lb · SEENPORT ARTHUR REFINERY · incident 392814 · 12,949.21 lb · FAINTEXXONMOBIL BEAUMONT REFINERY · incident 393350 · 18,411.98 lb · FAINTEXXONMOBIL BEAUMONT REFINERY · incident 393820 · 17,683.93 lb · SEENVALERO PORT ARTHUR REFINERY · incident 394589 · 2,377.9 lb · UNSEEN_WIND_AWAYPORT ARTHUR REFINERY · incident 394967 · 2,228.88 lb · UNSEEN_WIND_TOWARDEXXONMOBIL BEAUMONT REFINERY · incident 397695 · 8,329.43 lb · FAINTEXXONMOBIL BEAUMONT REFINERY · incident 397694 · 8,329.45 lb · FAINTVALERO PORT ARTHUR REFINERY · incident 397989 · 3,321.52 lb · UNSEEN_WIND_AWAYVALERO PORT ARTHUR REFINERY · incident 399238 · 8,687.1 lb · FAINTPORT ARTHUR REFINERY · incident 399279 · 5,906.24 lb · FAINTVALERO PORT ARTHUR REFINERY · incident 407707 · 2,004.53 lb · UNSEEN_WIND_TOWARDPORT ARTHUR REFINERY · incident 408469 · 8,078.79 lb · FAINTEXXONMOBIL BEAUMONT REFINERY · incident 408925 · 17,459.97 lb · FAINTEXXONMOBIL BEAUMONT REFINERY · incident 409481 · 9,219.42 lb · FAINTPORT ARTHUR REFINERY · incident 410049 · 3,029.08 lb · UNSEEN_WIND_TOWARDPORT ARTHUR REFINERY · incident 410133 · 6,258.04 lb · UNSEEN_WIND_AWAYEXXONMOBIL BEAUMONT REFINERY · incident 410380 · 3,663.4 lb · UNSEEN_WIND_AWAYEXXONMOBIL BEAUMONT REFINERY · incident 411189 · 1,753.69 lb · UNSEEN_WIND_AWAYVALERO PORT ARTHUR REFINERY · incident 411397 · 8,797.78 lb · FAINTVALERO PORT ARTHUR REFINERY · incident 411796 · 11,756.5 lb · SEENVALERO PORT ARTHUR REFINERY · incident 412689 · 18,316.35 lb · UNSEEN_WIND_AWAYEXXONMOBIL BEAUMONT REFINERY · incident 412707 · 235,080.17 lb · UNSEEN_WIND_AWAYVALERO PORT ARTHUR REFINERY · incident 413520 · 15,086.57 lb · UNSEEN_WIND_TOWARDseen by the monitorfaint bumpunseenBOTTOM — what the air recorded: hourly SO2 at EPA monitor; dots mark episodes of 5 ppb or more25 of 41 episodes have no overlapping SO2 report from any facility in the countySO2 at the monitor (ppb, sqrt scale)01515304526.2 ppb · 2 h · WEAK_MATCH55.8 ppb · 11 h · WEAK_MATCH39.7 ppb · 6 h · WEAK_MATCH56 ppb · 7 h · WEAK_MATCH25.4 ppb · 2 h · WEAK_MATCH41.6 ppb · 6 h · WEAK_MATCH43.4 ppb · 1 h · WEAK_MATCH65 ppb · 4 h · UNEXPLAINED77.5 ppb · 5 h · UNEXPLAINED25.1 ppb · 1 h · UNEXPLAINED54.6 ppb · 6 h · UNEXPLAINED21.4 ppb · 1 h · UNEXPLAINED73.6 ppb · 7 h · UNEXPLAINED34.3 ppb · 3 h · UNEXPLAINED35.4 ppb · 6 h · MATCHED23.5 ppb · 1 h · REGIONAL38.9 ppb · 7 h · UNEXPLAINED29.1 ppb · 3 h · REGIONAL29.3 ppb · 1 h · UNEXPLAINED33.9 ppb · 1 h · UNEXPLAINED20.1 ppb · 1 h · UNEXPLAINED51.3 ppb · 8 h · UNEXPLAINED26.9 ppb · 3 h · REGIONAL31.3 ppb · 4 h · REGIONAL20.2 ppb · 1 h · REGIONAL20.4 ppb · 1 h · UNEXPLAINED30.5 ppb · 2 h · REGIONAL29.3 ppb · 16 h · UNEXPLAINED41.9 ppb · 10 h · REGIONAL21 ppb · 1 h · UNEXPLAINED37.6 ppb · 10 h · UNEXPLAINED23.1 ppb · 1 h · UNEXPLAINED29 ppb · 3 h · UNEXPLAINED30.8 ppb · 3 h · UNEXPLAINED22.3 ppb · 1 h · UNEXPLAINED70 ppb · 5 h · REGIONAL26.7 ppb · 1 h · UNEXPLAINED19.7 ppb · 1 h · UNEXPLAINED32.4 ppb · 1 h · UNEXPLAINED74.1 ppb · 3 h · UNEXPLAINED51.7 ppb · 7 h · UNEXPLAINEDmatchedweak match (startup window)no matching reportJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecJan
UNEXPLAINEDDec 22, 2025 · 7h duration
Peak: 87.1 ppb SO2 · Wind from S (172.9°)
no report overlaps this window · Upwind cone swept on satellite map below ↓
Open AI Case File →
UNEXPLAINEDUPWIND CONE ACTIVE

Air arrived from the S (172.9°) during this 87.1 ppb event. Facilities in the shaded cone were upwind.

Show the wind during:

The shaded arc is where the air came from during the selected episode, widened by the uncertainty of the wind reading. Anything inside it was upwind; the arc says nothing about how far along it a source sat.

The fingerprint

Where the worst hours come from.

The share of hours from each wind direction that land in this monitor’s worst five per cent. One trajectory can be wrong. A pattern that holds across years is evidence.

Peak direction 160°, from the SSE. Threshold 5.5 ppb. 68% of hours use wind measured on site. The pale outer band is the 90% interval.

0–10° · 0% of 1316 hours10–20° · 0% of 1319 hours20–30° · 0% of 1174 hours30–40° · 1% of 995 hours40–50° · 1% of 720 hours50–60° · 0% of 695 hours60–70° · 1% of 848 hours70–80° · 0% of 869 hours80–90° · 0% of 971 hours90–100° · 0% of 820 hours100–110° · 1% of 521 hours110–120° · 2% of 458 hours120–130° · 2% of 890 hours130–140° · 2% of 1448 hours140–150° · 5% of 1587 hours150–160° · 25% of 1532 hours160–170° · 39% of 1824 hours170–180° · 15% of 2632 hours180–190° · 2% of 2633 hours190–200° · 1% of 2103 hours200–210° · 1% of 1292 hours210–220° · 0% of 892 hours220–230° · 0% of 587 hours230–240° · 0% of 467 hours240–250° · 0% of 389 hours290–300° · 0% of 428 hours310–320° · 0% of 701 hours320–330° · 0% of 808 hours330–340° · 1% of 878 hours340–350° · 0% of 1080 hours350–360° · 0% of 1152 hoursNESW

Episodes with no matching report

Air recorded · No report filed · Click to inspect on map
DatePeakHoursWind fromActions
Dec 22, 202587.1 ppb7S (172.9°)Open case →
May 18, 202484.7 ppb11N (7.1°)Open case →
Feb 2, 202582.5 ppb4S (174°)Open case →
Apr 26, 202480 ppb4S (171.1°)Open case →
Jan 9, 202279.3 ppb3SSW (204.3°)Open case →
Jan 18, 202377.5 ppb5SSE (164.5°)Open case →
Feb 22, 202575.4 ppb3NE (49.9°)Open case →
Dec 19, 202574.9 ppb3S (172°)Open case →
Dec 7, 202374.1 ppb3SSE (164.5°)Open case →
Feb 6, 202373.6 ppb7SSE (152°)Open case →

Reported releases the monitor did not see

Filed by facilities · Not seen by monitor
FacilityFiledReportedMonitor peakStatusActions
Exxonmobil Beaumont RefineryNov 10, 2023235,080.17 lb0.2 ppbwind away412707 ↗
Valero Port Arthur RefineryDec 9, 202523,958.44 lb0.3 ppbwind away449941 ↗
Port Arthur RefineryJun 4, 202220,115.09 lb0.3 ppbwind toward380829 ↗
Valero Port Arthur RefineryNov 10, 202318,316.35 lb0.9 ppbwind away412689 ↗
Port Arthur RefineryDec 29, 202117,158.01 lb0.8 ppbwind away372099 ↗
Valero Port Arthur RefineryNov 30, 202315,086.57 lb0.5 ppbwind toward413520 ↗
Valero Port Arthur RefineryJul 27, 202213,138.08 lb0 ppbwind toward384291 ↗
Exxonmobil Beaumont RefinerySep 10, 202412,329.31 lb0.4 ppbwind away429589 ↗
Exxonmobil Beaumont RefineryMar 21, 202412,048.11 lb1.3 ppbwind away419146 ↗
Valero Port Arthur RefineryJun 10, 202110,580.57 lb0.6 ppbwind toward359960 ↗

“Wind toward” means the monitor was downwind for part of the release and still recorded nothing unusual.