Sitting in my office right now, it smells like wildfire smoke.
Looking at the latest (4:30 PM) PurpleAir air quality map, one sees a narrow region of very poor air quality (red and purple colors) over North Seattle and southeast Snohomish County. Also Kirkland.
Why is this happening? A plume of dense smoke from the Wildcat Fire east of Mt. Rainier (see map below)
Take a look at the visible satellite image around 4 PM (below). You can see the plume of smoke drifting to the NW, reaching north Seattle and Snohomish County.
Want to be impressed? Here is the small particle concentrations at Lake Forecast Park, just north of Seattle, since June 1.
Wow. The highest particulate values of the whole summer...nothing is close.
The good news? The models are suggesting a significant change in the wind direction, which should bring relief to western Washington. And we will move to a cooler and wetter period, which will help suppress the fires.
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So that explains today... That is, I went over in the 10AM hour to do a final watering of plants in pots, which include 2 Fuscias in hanging pots on their back deck and it was cloudy, foggy with whisps of fog rolling in so the fog thickens, then lightens up as I watered. Temps in the low 60's, but when I left to come home, the sun began to peak out but by 1pm, it was back behind clouds again.
ReplyDeleteThis is in the Tacoma area, the sun is kinda peaking out now at 5:44PM. The temps I think only made it to 75F today, according to the Weather Channel.
Now it's saying cloudy tomorrow 71 and rain in the morning, cloudy with the same temps for Sunday and Tuesday rain, 71, Monday, 75 and cloudy. with the rest of the days, through the 19th mid to upper 70's and partly cloudy. I'm sure that'll continue to change as we move forward.
Could the smoke be getting 'sandwiched' in a manner similar to a convergence zone?
ReplyDeleteAny speculation on the thunder tomorrow
ReplyDeleteA little late for speculation now, but the coast did get in on the action Saturday evening with a number of lightening strikes and some thunder.
DeleteHow is the smoke getting here without causing high particulate values between Rainier and here?
ReplyDeleteexcellent question. The smoke is aloft and then gets mixed down to the surface.
DeleteI don't know why the impact of the Wildcat wildfire east of Mt. Rainier has been ignored. Over the past few days it has obscured any clear views of Mt. Rainier. And your post yesterday showed a map of air quality in that region at very unhealthy levels (a 297 reading). Daytime prevailing winds from the SE, and this fire, seem to be a major contributor to the hazy conditions we have experienced.
ReplyDeleteDr. Mass: Are you familiar with the North American Tree-Ring Fire Scar Network and the peer-reviewed papers that are being published as a result. This is some of the best evidence I've seen demonstrating the need for much more aggressive forest management activities.
ReplyDeleteCrazy how this event was so localized in time and space. Especially in the vertical dimension. Smoke had been abundant at higher altitudes for days but nothing forced it down to the surface until this moment. The whole thing was over in four hours, tops, and it only affected one part of Seattle. It was the same as if a huge fire broke out at Northgate at 4pm. Thank you for tracing the real origin of it. I was very curious.
ReplyDeleteLake Forecast Park! Love it. Best wishes to all.
ReplyDeleteThe current forecast is almost entirely dry for the next 2 weeks...
ReplyDeleteLate last week, it was saying some showers for Monday and Tuesday mornings but sunny in the afternoon, then it adjusted to Sunday rain (was totally dry in Tacoma) and now no rain at all, but temps staying squarely in the 70's with mostly to partly cloudy most days, but dry as you say.
DeleteBellingham had some rain over the weekend - a friend reported there being thunder in Ferndale, even. Days are now shorter, and it's been cloudy (cooler), and dew has revived grasses. I'm not sure that "almost entirely dry" is a concern. Just saying!
DeleteThe link to the NOAA smoke prediction model changed, do you have the new link? Thanks and thanks for your blog!
ReplyDelete