Haze and Heat Continue East of the Cascades

Fires remain active in the state with 5 large fires currently being reported. The Pioneer and Cougar Creek fires remain active and 2 new fires started on Wednesday as a result of lightning. The Easy fire located within the Okanogan-Wenatchee NF was listed at 150 acres and Swawilla I (Colville Agency, BIA) is listed at 600 acres on the Colville Reservation. The Shoofly fire, also located on the Okanogan-Wenatchee NF, is last reported at 104 acres, and no new information has been received. 

 

 

Smoke rising above the Easy Fire on July 18, 2024. Photo via the USFS on inciweb.wildfire.gov. 

 

A ridge of high pressure will bring extreme heat east of the Cascades this weekend, especially on Sunday when temperatures are likely to break some daily records. Under that dome of heat, expect stagnant air and light winds across the region. This weather pattern should allow some wildfire smoke and haze to build up east of the Cascades Saturday afternoon through Sunday. It’s likely that most of eastern WA will be seeing MODERATE or UNHEALTHY FOR SENSITIVE GROUPS by Saturday night which should continue into Sunday before some improvement is possible early next week. While all of eastern WA may see some impacts, communities near larger incidents remain focus areas for the greatest air quality impacts. This includes Chelan, Twisp, and Winthrop near the Pioneer Fire as well as Clarkston and Asotin near the Cougar Creek Fire in southeast WA. 

                                                 Heat risk across eastern Washington on Sunday, July 21.  

In Western Washington, air quality is likely to remain GOOD to MODERATE over the weekend across the lowlands. There could be some wildfire smoke/haze from larger Oregon fires passing through at upper levels of the atmosphere on Sunday. So, skies might look a bit less blue than normal but it’s unlikely to affect surface air quality. That being said, those folks seeking out recreation activities in higher elevations of the Olympics and Cascades could have some air quality impacts on Sunday similar to those described for the eastern half of the state.  

For more information on protecting your health during an extreme heat event, visit this earlier post from the WA DOH, ‘Take Extra Care When It’s Hot and Smoky’.   

 

 

Statewide Smoke Update: Pioneer, Cougar Creek, and Emerging Incidents

Fires were very active on Tuesday

Conditions were very favorable yesterday for significant fire growth, and both the Pioneer and the emerging Cougar Creek incident took full advantage of the hot and dry weather. The Pioneer fire put off a massive smoke plume on Tuesday afternoon, and the smoke is lingering in the Lake Chelan basin today. Air quality is expected to remain at UNHEALTHY FOR SENSITIVE GROUPS levels for Stehekin through Thursday, with periods of UNHEALTHY and VERY UNHEALTHY in the evenings and overnight. Farther down-lake toward Manson and Chelan, air quality is expected to improve into the MODERATE category through tonight as southerly winds develop this evening. Similarly, air quality in the Methow Valley is expected to range from MODERATE to UNHEALTHY FOR SENSITIVE GROUPS over the next 24-48 hours. The best and most up to date air quality information from the Pioneer Fire can be found in the Air Resource Advisor smoke outlook, updated daily at https://fire.airnow.gov/.

    Satellite imagery from Tuesday, July 16th, showing active fire behavior on the Pioneer Fire (north-central Washington) and the emerging Cougar Creek Fire (far southeast Washington).

Imagery courtesy of College of DuPage.

The Cougar Creek Fire also grew about 3,000 acres on Tuesday after burning 150 acres on Monday evening. Fire activity has been tamped down temporarily on Wednesday due to cloud cover, but smoke impacts are likely to continue from this fire over the next week. The most significant impacts will continue to be for communities near the fire and northeast of the fire, with Anatone, Clarkston, and Asotin likely experiencing periods of UNHEALTHY FOR SENSITIVE GROUPS to UNHEALTHY air quality.

More Wildfire Ignitions Expected Today 

Abundant lightning has ignited numerous new fires in Oregon over the past 24 hours, and lightning is spreading across Washington through Wednesday night. We will be closely monitoring the emerging incidents in both Oregon and Washington over the next 24-48 hours, and will provide an update when there is more certainty on where smoke impacts are likely to be the greatest for this weekend. At this time, western Washington does not appear to be under imminent threat from wildfire smoke, but areas along the Cascades and to the east need to stay alert for possible wildfire smoke impacts over the next several days.