Sunday, August 26, 2018

Sunday Update for Washington State

The cooler weather, onshore winds, and scattered rain will continue today as the clouds move east.  We should be back to clear skies on Monday afternoon and Tuesday.  Not for long though!  More cloudy and cool weather is expected to roll in on Wednesday.   Thanks to the weather, many Washington residents will continue to see relatively good air quality today and beyond.  However, it can be difficult to assess fire and smoke activity with all these clouds since satellites do not have a clear view.

Most of Western Washington is experiencing Good air quality, but a fire on JBLM has been sending smoke north and causing Moderate to Unhealthy air quality around the Seattle area.  The fire is contained but could continue to generate modest smoke that impacts nearby cities.

Northerly winds are expected on Monday, which could blow a little Canadian smoke into our state, but nothing like we saw earlier this year.  Residents in the Spokane area could also see smoke blow in from Idaho and Montana.  It should be short lived though, since Tuesday's forecast shows westerly winds are expected for the coast and southerly winds for Eastern Washington.

All in all, sporadic rain and shifty winds should keep air quality pretty good in our state, but if you are downwind from a fire you should expect some smoke.

Large Washington Fires:

McLeod, Cougar Creek, and Crescent Mountain in the North/Central Cascades are the largest fires in the state and continue to send smoke to various parts of Central and Eastern Washington.

The Boyds fire in Ferry county and the Horns Mountain fire in Stevens county have been impacting northeastern Washington, including Spokane.

The Maple fire on the southeast side of the Olympic National Park has seen minimal growth (currently 2,150 acres).

The Miriam and Meninick fires continue to generate moderate smoke for Yakima county.

PM2.5 monitors on Sunday (10 am)

13 comments:

  1. Appreciate all your hard work to communicate these updates. Praying for continued good news on the air quality.

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  2. May want to check your source about the fire on JBLM, the link is a story from 2016. There are not any fires on JBLM currently producing any significant amount of smoke.

    Thanks for all your hard work.

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  3. How is the Port Angeles/Hurricane Ridge area looking for the next couple of days?

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    1. Mostly Good, some hours of Moderate air cannot be ruled out

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  4. I see the air quality forecast for Chelan has improved for the week. Do you think this is accurate and will hold up?

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    1. As mentioned to someone else asking the same question: Active weather expected, meaning no large scale pooling of smoke. Fire activity has taken a hit over the weekend due to cloud cover and modest rain but since fires are very close to the area, dont expect air to be continuously Good throughout the week. Not expecting worse than Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups, though

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  5. Is Eastern Washington area quite smokey? And do you know what the air quality will be like this weekend? We are camping 7 miles out of Withrop, near Okennoggen (sorry, I probably spelled that wrong).

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    1. Please see the above map for current conditions across the state. Fire activity has taken a hit over the weekend due to cloud cover and modest rain. The Winthrop/ Okanogan area has fires nearby, so dont expect air to be continuously Good throughout the weekend. Not expecting worse than Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups, though

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  6. Wondering about visibility in glacier. I am headed out there this week and am worried the views of Mt baker will be hindered by smoke

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    Replies
    1. Possibly. Thru late Tue, there will be northerly flow so area fires (all the large ones are in that vicinity) will likely get in the way. After west flow kicks in on Wed, smoke might just about stay away but clouds are likely to get in the way. Thu- Fri will be quite variable, with little smoke pooling around but still present

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  7. How about Cle Elum and Teanaway area? Still smoky?

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    Replies
    1. Please see the map of live data above (may not show up by default on mobile devices- click "view full site" at the bottom). The current reading for Cle Elum shows Good air

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