Statewide forecast — June 11: Clear Skies and Sun Sun Sun!

The massive fires in Alberta are still spewing smoke, but none of that will make its way to our skies this week.  Forecasts call for clear skies and Good air quality.  Wildfire smoke should not be a problem in Washington this week.

Temperatures will peak in the 90s on Wednesday for counties in the Columbia Basin, with very little wind. It will still be hot in the Columbia Basin on Thursday as winds pick up, but high temperatures will drop down to the mid-80s on Friday.

Other parts of the state will also get quite hot, hitting mid-80s or higher on Wednesday.  Luckily, westerly winds are expected to pick up on Thursday afternoon and this will be accompanied by clouds and a cooling trend.

While we don't expect wildfire smoke this week, let's do our part to keep it that way!  It's very important for people to practice fire safety on hot/dry days.  Dry grasses are especially susceptible to human-caused ignition.

Statewide forecast — June 7: Cool, Wet, and Clean Air this Weekend... Warming Up Next Week

This weekend should be clear of any wildfire smoke, with Good air quality expected.  Conditions will be cool, cloudy, and wet in most parts of the state.  Lightning is a concern for fire starts, but the cool temperatures and expected precipitation should abate the potential for new wildfires.  Furthermore, the Fire Danger Index is currently low to moderate for most of the state.

However, a warming and drying trend is expected to start on Sunday, and by the middle of next week we will see temperatures reach the 90s! This will increase the chance of wildfires and smoke in the Pacific Northwest.

Statewide forecast — June 5: Highway 243 fire will "hose down" the Columbia Basin & Spokane with smoke. Rest of the state largely smoke free

The highway 243 fire in Grant County has grown to over 15,000 acres now and is 25% contained. Spokane recorded brief incursions of Unhealthy air yesterday, as high winds sent wavy plumes of smoke to several counties.

Since little smoke concerns exist elsewhere in the state through Friday, the rest of this post will only cover smoke from the Hwy 243 fire.

Strong winds with directional shifts will cause plumes to impact a wide swathe of downwind areas at different times. Not expecting much precipitation to help with firefighting or smoke dissipation. Smoke model animations look like someone is waving a water jet around the Columbia Basin! Here's how some models depict plumes between now and 11AM on Thursday. For those interested, different colors of these ensemble mean forward trajectories correspond to starting heights between 100m and 2000m AGL.

Given the fire growth, it ls likely that several areas will see air quality varying between Moderate and Unhealthy at different times. Worse close to the fires. Generally worse air during the day and slightly lower concentrations at night. Expect this behavior through Thursday.

This blog contains several resources to protect your health during wildfire smoke events. See https://wasmoke.blogspot.com/p/national-interagency-fire-information.html. Stay safe!

Statewide forecast — June 4: Spoke too soon. A new fire in Grant County is blowing smoke into the Columbia Basin

A fast moving fire, now estimated at 3000 acres close to Highway 243 in Grant County is clearly visible on satellite images and its smoke was observed at monitors in Mesa, Rosalia and Ritzville. No intel on the cause yet.

Strong-ish west winds are blowing the smoke into the basin and are expected to continue fanning the flames today. A breezy cold front passage tomorrow will only worsen fire spread. But the same winds also disperse smoke downwind of the fire (except right by the fire, where plumes can be concentrated).

Expecting air quality to vary between Moderate and Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups in Franklin, Adams and parts of Whitman Counties between now and Thursday. Worse closer to the fire.

In other areas, the only smoke will be from fires we create. We dont need any of that so lets do our part to prevent fires.

Statewide forecast — June 3: Little to no smoke expected statewide this week

Quick update to let our readers know that the wildfire smoke risk is low this work week. Good on-shore winds & light precipitation will result in mostly Good air statewide. Enjoy the great outdoors!

Statewide forecast — May 31: Wildfire smoke is back and so are we. Expect light smoke over eastern WA this weekend

It would have been great if we could have wished our readers a "not so bad" 2019 wildfire smoke season. But smoke from Alberta has forced us back to business by the end of May. Fortunately, the levels in eastern WA are not that severe and are expected to be no worse that Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups this weekend. Most areas will record Good or Moderate air.

This pair of satellite images from yesterday and this AM show smoke from northern Alberta fires flowing down the Okanogan and Columbia River valleys into eastern WA.

Smoke is mixing down to the surface, and the fine particle pollution monitors have recorded a slight increase since this AM. Here's a 3-day timeseries of a few monitors in eastern WA.

Eastern WA weekend forecast

Models suggest some Alberta smoke will slosh around this weekend, initially receding from the Cascade foothills and Columbia Basin, being confined to the far eastern part of the state (including Spokane) before rebounding Sunday & Monday. Again, not expecting a lot of smoke. But the cat among the pigeons is the risk of lightning in the Cascades and NE Washington and the new fires this might spark off between now and Saturday evening. Spotty downpours are expected but their pollution- cleansing and fire- dousing potential may not be harnessed entirely if they're not in the right place at the right time.

Western WA weekend forecast

Little or no wildfire smoke is expected to reach the surface in western WA, but some light smoke aloft could make sunsets prettier. Smoke from local fires cannot be ruled out. See the section titled "Prescribed Burns" in the "Fire Information" tab above.

News — Oct. 31: See you in Summer 2019!

The 2018 Washington wildfire season is behind us, and we couldn’t be happier to see it end! 

As much as we wish to never have another wildfire season, we’re prepared to return to this blog around July 2019 with smoke information, current conditions, forecasts, health tips, and more. 

In the meantime, here’s information and contacts for your off-season inquiries.

Current air quality conditions

The air monitoring map on this blog displays current data and is active all year long. Mobile users can find it here. For additional monitors, view the Monitoring & Forecasting tab.

Local air quality contacts

Have questions about smoke or air quality issues today? Contact your local clean air agency. Phone numbers, websites, and a printable map are available here. Also view the Local Information tab for additional county contacts including local health, emergency management, and sheriff’s offices. For emergencies, please call 911.

Current fires on the map

If you see fires on the monitoring map during the off-season, those are likely silvicultural prescribed fires. View a daily list of prescribed burn details from the Washington Department of Natural Resources.

Be prepared for next wildfire season 

Get a jump on next wildfire season by reviewing the Washington Department of Health’s tips for protecting you and your family during smoke. Also view EPA's fact sheet "Prepare for Fire Season" for a checklist of steps to do now.

Blog survey results

Thank you to all who participated in our smoke blog customer survey in August. Here are the results of your feedback. 

Many, many thanks

This blog is due to great partnerships between several Washington agencies and federal teams. A giant thank you to Ranil Dhammapala, Farren Herron-Thorpe, and Matt Kadlec at Washington Department of Ecology; Janice Peterson and Marlin Martinez at the U.S. Forest Service; Teresa Lohr, Julie Fox, and Cris Lab at Washington Department of Health; all the hardworking Air Resource Advisors in the field; and many others who worked tirelessly to get information out there every day. We are grateful for their commitment and dedication to our Washington communities. 

We also thank you for your questions and comments, and for sharing this information with your neighbors. 

Have a wonderful winter and spring in our beautiful state of Washington. Breathe well.

Statewide forecast — Sept. 12: Rain this weekend! Bad news for fires.

Good air quality has been sustained across the state for several days now thanks to some precipitation, cooler temperatures, and increased relative humidity.  Significant precipitation is expected this weekend too, which will further reduce any remaining fire activity.  Clear skies are expected next week but the summer weather is done for this year.  We are even starting to see some agricultural and prescribed burns in places, which indicates that the summer wildfire season is on its way out the door.

Fire activity on the eastern slopes of the Cascades has been minimal. The light rain on Tuesday helped increase containment of fires like McLeod and Crescent Mountain. Some light smoke and fire activity will still be visible in parts of Okanogan County (e.g. Pasayten, Twisp) as stumps, downed logs, and other ground fuels continue to smolder.  Expect Good air quality for the next few days with some intermittent Moderate conditions immediately downwind of smoldering fires. 

Southwesterly winds are expected in Northeastern Washington over the next couple days.  So we shouldn't see much of any smoke from the nearby fires in Canada and Idaho that are still lingering.  Expect Good air quality, though some small fires in the area have been pushing the Newport monitor into the Moderate category at times.

Air quality around Yakima is Good but the Miriam fire is still experiencing a little growth.  This means that residents in Yakima county that are immediately downwind of the fire may see some intermittent Moderate conditions.

PM2.5 Monitor Dot Map for Wednesday (1 pm)

Statewide forecast — Sept. 7: It’s blowing away this weekend. Well, almost.

Western WA is largely free of smoke and will stay that way through early next week. Some light smoke from the Maple fire could potentially hit areas north of Seattle, but not expecting anything worse than spotty, short-lived Moderate conditions.

Weekend forecast for eastern WA
Southwest winds are picking up but haven't yet delivered much clean air yet. Present air quality runs the gamut from Good to Unhealthy. More greens will start appearing on the map as the day progresses, starting from the southwest. However some fire growth is expected as winds ramp up.

The southwest winds will die down on Saturday, allowing smoke from fires in the Washington Cascades to flow into nearby communities. Chelan and Okanogan Counties are likely to take a beating again (sorry!) and there is an Air Quality Alert through Sunday morning to address this. Air could be as bad as Very Unhealthy at times.

Eastern WA will also lie downwind of Oregon wildfires this weekend, although models are not advertising large smoke intrusions. Winds pick up again on Sunday with the possibility of some rain (YEAH!!!), alleviating air quality concerns somewhat. Here's what the UW weather models show for 24-hr total precipitation, ending at 5AM Monday. Over 1" in high terrain! Too optimistic?

All in all, areas to the south and east of a line from Goldendale to Spokane can expect mostly Good air this weekend. Yakima to Wenatchee could see periods of Moderate or even Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups. Other than Chelan and Okanogan, north central and north eastern counties could see air ranging from Moderate to Unhealthy. Air quality will be better further from the Cascades.

Statewide forecast — Sept. 5: Smoke in eastern WA until Friday, west side starts to clear Thursday.

Some minor tweaks to the forecast issued yesterday:

1. A new-ish fire near Mt. Rainier (Wrong Creek) is pumping smoke into the south sound
2. Strong-ish winds on Friday will increase fire growth in eastern WA
3. Seems like the clearing is being slowed down slightly.

Here's the satellite picture from this morning (click for 1-2PM animation).

Notice how smoke has filled many of the Cascade valleys. The animation shows some smoke plumes have started blowing eastward this afternoon. Problem is, surface level winds are still easterly and will likely remain so until early Thursday. It will then take several hours to clean out western WA, so expect air to remain Moderate to Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups.

It will be Friday AM before eastern WA starts to scrub out, leaving many areas with Unhealthy or worse air. As the front drags through eastern WA:

1. Strong-ish winds will fan the flames and likely increase fire growth
2. Some Oregon smoke could clip southern and southeastern WA, perpetuating Moderate/ USG conditions

A return to Good air is likely over the weekend, save for areas very close to large fires.