 |
| This UW ensemble precipitation forecast map shows at least light rain predicted over much of Washington, notably skirting the Columbia Basin. |
A
breezy weather pattern has started to move across the state. It’s bringing
fresh Pacific air and deflecting smoky air from fire complexes in southeastern
BC and southern Oregon and northern California away from Washington.
That
leaves no smoke worries west of the Cascades, but fires on the range’s east
slope and in the Okanogan Highlands can still pack a smoky punch locally.
The
Washington Department of Ecology will extend an Air Quality Alert (AQA) for the
Methow and Okanogan River Valleys, the Lake Chelan area and Yakima County until
10 a.m. Monday. Particulate matter (PM2.5) levels could reach Unhealthy for Sensitive
Groups levels or Unhealthy levels in those areas.
The
band of light precipitation will fall mostly in north central parts of
Washington, as shown by the ensemble mean of all models. The AQA is being
extended despite the rain because fires are expected to continue smoldering for
a while. There is not enough rain to extinguish them altogether.
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| A Super Scooper firefighting plane flies through evening haze Thursday over Ecology's Union Gap office. (Photo: Eiko Urmos-Berry) |
Cooler
temperatures, though, will help fire crews, regardless of rainfall.
The
weather package also includes thunderstorms and wind gusts. While those can
start or fan wildfires, the overall benefit of cooler air and rain should help
fire crews make good progress over the weekend. Sunday should be breezy and
drier, with more wet weather forecast to follow early next week.
We’re
posting updated local smoke forecasts for Washington’s major fires on this
blog’s Local
Smoke Outlooks
tab. And, our maps show the most current PM 2.5 monitoring information.
I have on question about the forecast we show. As of now, we're showing that air quality would be 'green' for Leavenworth, WA. However, iqair.com predicts it to be 'red' (150-200): https://www.iqair.com/usa/washington/leavenworth/west-center-street
ReplyDeleteThis is quite a big of difference. Could you share which one is a more accurate forecast?
Which one is more accurate? Ours, of course ;)
DeleteIQAir has updated their forecast for Leavenworth and is quite similar to ours now. Enjoy the clean air!
Curious why there have no updates for eastern Washington. There is smoke pretty much daily. This site, while informative, seems to cater to the west side. It would be nice to have updated information for the rest of the state.Thank you.
ReplyDeleteIt may look like that because we moved the daily ARA updates to the "Local Smoke Outlooks" tab (https://wasmoke.blogspot.com/p/local-outlooks.html). The goal was to make it easier to find the broader forecasts on the home page, but our ARA partners are still at work forecasting smoke for the major fires still burning in the state. You can also slide the toggle on the map to find localized, five-day forecasts for 50 sites around the state.
DeleteCheck out the new "Local Smoke Outlooks" tab, which has regular updates from Air Resource Advisors for current large fires. There is also a 5-day forecast as part of the map on this page which is updated daily.
Delete