You knew it would not final.
This has been a very fire-free and smoke free summer season to this point, however our run of smokeless skies is now ending.
A quickly rising fireplace in northwest California is pushing smoke northward into Oregon and southeast Washington.
The McKinney Fireplace, which began on July 29 and was initially pushed by sturdy winds, is now over 51,000 acres and uncontained. The map beneath exhibits its location: due south of Medford and due east of Crescent Metropolis Not removed from I5.
Yesterday’s satellite tv for pc image confirmed smoke from the fireplace pushing northward into southern Oregon.
And as we speak, the smoke plume, fortunately aloft, has reached the Tri-cities and Walla Walla.
The great NOAA HRRR-smoke mannequin means that extra smoke will transfer into Washington State by tomorrow morning at 5 AM (see beneath). Direct hit on Portland! That is whole smoke within the vertical column.
However thankfully, most of that smoke might be excessive aloft, as instructed by the forecast smoke concentrations on the floor at the moment.
Smoke tends to loft over time, so smoke from distant fires tends to be aloft the place it has little impression on floor air high quality.
We’re lucky that the winds aloft are usually favorable to guard western Washington. Beneath are the winds at 10,000 ft tomorrow morning. The winds are usually from the southwest over western Washington, bringing in cleaner ocean air.
Lastly, as we speak is a bit cooler over Oregon and southern Washington and roughly the identical round Seattle (see 24-h temperature change beneath), however tomorrow will a major step down into the decrease 80s.
No extra 90s in western Washington for some time!
However with the cooling comes a risk. As western WA begins to chill, sturdy winds will develop over the japanese slopes of the Cascades, one thing proven dramatically by the hot-dry-wind fireplace index (beneath). Orange and crimson point out nice hazard.
In case you are dwelling in japanese WA, please by very, very cautious the subsequent few days–any ignitition supply might begin a significant fireplace.
