Friday Smoke Snapshot and Updated Weekend Outlook

Friday Smoke Snapshot 

As expected, smoke is currently blanketing much of the state mostly due to wildfires in Oregon producing large plumes that have drifted north. In Washington, the Williams Mine Fire has also been more active in the past few days which has contributed to local smoke impacts. The Huckleberry Ridge Fire, burning in southwest Lewis County, began on September 4th. So far, it has burned 100 acres and is also contributing to localized smoke impacts. Additionally, the Whiskey Creek Fire on the Oregon side of the Columbia River in the gorge has seen increased activity with a smoke plume visible Friday afternoon.

Wildfire smoke over Washington as seen from the GOES-West satellite Friday afternoon.

Air Quality Advisories remain in place for the following counties: Clark, Cowlitz, Lewis, Skamania, and Wahkiakum, until Saturday morning. 
To learn more or find out if there’s an Air Quality Advisory in place for your location, check with your local clean air agency. Air Quality Advisories may be put in place, removed, or extended at any time.  
For Air Quality Advisories on Reservations in Washington, visit: https://www.epa.gov/farr/burn-bans-indian-reservations-id-or-and-wa

A closer look at some of the monitors in the state: 
 
As smoke moved north and west from Idaho and Oregon, Seattle saw a shift from Good to Moderate conditions Thursday continuing through Friday.    

 

Vancouver was closer to the sources of smoke and saw higher impacts with levels reaching Unhealthy at its peak before slowly improving back to Moderate levels late Friday morning.

As smoke made its way north and settled in at lower elevations, Enumclaw and other locations within the Cascade foothills saw levels reaching Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups.

Weekend Outlook 

With hot and dry weather remaining in place, active fire behavior is expected the next few days. Except at the immediate coast, winds in the low levels will remain out of the east-southeast with south-southeast flow aloft. This will continue to transport smoke aloft into Washington through Sunday morning.

For Saturday in western Washington, air quality concerns continue with scattered pockets of Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups expected. Areas of greatest concern will be the western Columbia Gorge into the Vancouver metro area as well as the foothills of the central and southern Washington Cascades. Depending on smoke output from the region’s large fires, isolated instances of Unhealthy air quality are possible. East of the Cascades, air quality is expected to range from Good to Moderate. 

Eventually, westerly winds will push cleaner air onshore. This will be a gradual process, and widespread Moderate air quality will likely persist into Sunday night or early Monday for western Washington. Smoke impacts may worsen east of the Cascades Sunday through Monday morning with some locations seeing AQI rise into the Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups range, mainly across southern Washington. Northern Washington should remain Good to Moderate. Eventually, air quality is expected to improve statewide Monday afternoon into Tuesday.

We are still expecting isolated thunderstorms to develop over the Cascades this weekend. Any new lightning-induced starts may bring new local air quality issues.