Changing weather conditions have brought a return of smoke from Canadian wildfires to Western Washington. All six of ORCAA’s counties — Clallam, Grays Harbor, Jefferson, Mason, Pacific, and Thurston – are experiencing higher levels of air pollution already this evening, and the impacts are expected to worsen through the weekend and into next week. National Weather Service meteorologists expect the smoke to linger through at least Thursday.
NOTE: Since the Grays Harbor Air Monitoring station remains off-line due to technical issues, residents there should refer to the Pacific County data.
The Canadian smoke could push air quality across Western Washington into the Moderate and even Unhealthy ranges on the Washington Air Quality Advisory (WAQA) chart. https://ecology.wa.gov/Research-Data/Monitoring-assessment/Washington-Air-Quality-Advisory
The Washington Department of Health offers detailed information on how residents can best deal with smoke impacts on their homes and communities. That information can be found here: https://www.doh.wa.gov/CommunityandEnvironment/AirQuality/SmokeFromFires.
ORCAA will continue to monitor the impacts from this smoke event and will report any changes that further threaten public health.
Washington’s complete network of Air Monitoring Stations — including those managed and maintained by ORCAA — can be found on the Department of Ecology’s website: https://fortress.wa.gov/ecy/enviwa/
Additional information on wildfires and smoke from wildfires is available at https://wasmoke.blogspot.com/
