Wildfires in Okanogan are churning out smoke again, and the Schneider Springs Fire northwest of Naches is now pushing smoke into the Yakima Valley.
Not great!
Air quality across eastern Washington started Thursday in the Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups to Unhealthy range.
Those air quality impacts will worsen going into Friday, then the smoke will begin to thin Saturday ahead of a larger cold front set to arrive Sunday.
The Washington Department of Ecology has issued an Air Quality Alert for all of eastern Washington through 10 a.m. Monday.
Looks like a fair bit of smoke is being pushed through the Fraser Gap into Whatcom County. According to Purple Air, the air quality here has degraded significantly. I know we've been spoiled for good air on the West side this year, but what's the timeline for relief over here?
ReplyDeleteA new post should be available now, which discusses Western WA. I think you should expect smoke for one more day but you should be fine by Saturday.
DeleteThanks for the forecast. For these predictions, would Ross Lake qualify as eastern WA and have unhealthy air quality, or stay closer to moderate? I have permits Fri-Sun. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI'm not an expert, but I really like this live map I found here:
Deletehttps://fire.airnow.gov/#
Could be some smoke Friday (potentially as bad as unhealthy for sensitive groups), but should be mostly clear by Saturday.
ReplyDeleteWondering how come Yakima county consistently shows no smoke forecast, even though AQI is reported and updated regularly from multiple permanent stations as shown on Airnow.gov. Could the WSU two-day forecast model be used here?
ReplyDeleteThanks for monitoring and responding to user comments!
Hi Anne, you're certainly well informed about the forecast workings! Long story short, a mix of missing data two days ago and a temporary complication with a server running the WSU two-day forecast have left this hanging. I expect it to be resolved tomorrow. You should expect Unhealthy air through tomorrow evening there, gradually improving to USG by Sunday and maybe Moderate by Monday.
DeleteThat makes sense, glad it's temporary! Thanks!
DeleteWhat’s the forecast for eastern WA this coming week? We are supposed to be vacationing but wondering if we should cancel.
ReplyDeletePlease see the map with current conditions and forecasts at the top of this blog. On mobile devices, you may have to scroll to the bottom and click "Show web view".
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