Weekend smoke forecast

Other than areas close to fires, statewide air quality is likely to remain Good in most areas over the weekend. However some moderate air quality conditions cannot be ruled out, particularly at night. Things to note:

• Some wetting rain is possible in western Washington on Saturday night. As that system moves into eastern Washington, there is a small chance of lightning in the Cascades on Sunday. Pray for no new fire starts.
• In eastern Washington, winds turn south to southwest by Saturday evening. While this might keep smoke from the Wolverine fire from getting into the Columbia Basin, it does channel some smoke from fires close to the Oregon border, into the Basin.
• Models hint at sustained SSW winds transporting some smoke from Oregon and California fires over far eastern Washington by Sunday evening. Depending on how unstable the winds are, some smoke could well mix down to the surface and cause Moderate air quality around the Tri Cities and Walla Walla. 

Air quality around the Chelan area is covered in the previous blog post below.