As expected, air quality is rapidly improving west of the Cascades, with the transition complete by tomorrow morning.
You can see the changes in the west in the visible satellite imagery at 11 AM yesterday (top) and today (bottom)
The smoke plumes are now directed to the east, as the winds have reversed to westerly (from the west).
Low marine clouds have pushed up the coast and invaded coastal locations. Air quality in the Portland area is hugely improved.
There is s good air quality at high elevations in the Cascades, which are above the shallow smoke layer.
To illustrate the good conditions in the Cascades, below is the view at Paradise, on Mt. Rainier (about 5500 ft). Nice blue sky!
And the predicted westerly winds in Ellensburg will increase substantially later tomorrow, according to the UW high-resolution modeling system:
Such winds will make fire management more difficult and promote fire motion to the east.
To illustrate the good conditions in the Cascades, below is the view at Paradise, on Mt. Rainier (about 5500 ft). Nice blue sky!
The latest NOAA HRRR smoke forecasts predict a profound improvement in low-level smoke between today at 11 AM and tomorrow at 3 AM
And REALLY better by Saturday at 5 AM:
But there is a potential problem: much stronger winds on the eastern side of the Cascades: winds that could rev up some of the fires burning now (such as Little Giant).
The forecast winds for Friday evening could gust to over 39 knots over some areas of the eastern slopes of the Cascades.
And the predicted westerly winds in Ellensburg will increase substantially later tomorrow, according to the UW high-resolution modeling system:
Need to watch this situation carefully.
Dr. Mass,
ReplyDeleteYour science seems solid, however it seems you ignore the obvious and clear evidence that temperatures are warming, rain/snow is decliiing, wind is increasing, and (I realize what I’m doing here) extreme weather events are increasing at an exponential rate. What do you attribute these clearly accelerating catastrophic weather events to?
Not ignoring anything. Much of what you say it simply not true. Extreme weather events are NOT increasing at an exponential rate. Strong winds are not increasing. Warming temperatures are a minor element of the wildfires. Snow pack is not important for grass fires....and more...
DeleteClimate change may be happening, it always is. There are continual cycles of ice ages and periods in between. The interesting thing about the mainstream media is how much fear they instill in the masses while pushing their agenda. Then, when it turns out these fires are started by arsonists, lightning, exploding transformers, they just sort of let the story die. When was the last time the Seattle Times issued an apology like: "We're sorry for telling you these fires were the result of you bad people driving cars and using things, they are actually the result of a mentally ill arsonist?" I'm surprised that they haven't started using reasoning such as: transformers blow because more people need air conditioning due to climate change, or the arsonist was driven crazy from the heat due to climate change? http://archive.today/2026.08.06-205635/https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/environment/spokane-arson-suspect-told-prosecutors-he-started-25-other-fires-documents-say/
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