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 Air Quality Now 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 Gov 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.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

BORA - A Blockchain Gaming Revolution

With many things in the blockchain space, potential is never a problem, it is about implementation and the possibility of reaching critical mass. There are a number of blockchain operations that are focusing in on this fast-moving and progressive space, but they admit to being only a drop in the an ocean. BORA Company is a blockchain platform trying to bring forward the potential of blockchain in gaming, believes that the space is one that can aid in adoption of blockchain. Bora is Ethereum based, because they believe that Ethereum mainnet has the most good potential for growth. And we know that the fact of Ethereum has the highest number of DApps speaks to the stability and security of Ethereum, and it have the most active developer community. Many more interesting you can find about BORA. Some of them that makes me have believe that BORA Company will have good future in gaming revolution are: -create a transparent -fair platform with minimized transaction fees Read mo...
Read more

Smoke returns to eastern WA, western WA on track to get a whiff. Improvement on Thursday

Image
Active weather over the last week helped most of the state breathe easy. But much of eastern WA took a turn for the worse last night with fine particle pollution levels ranging from Moderate to Unhealthy. Wildfires in Okanogan County and BC (just north of Stevens County) are the main culprits. Here's what the latest satellite picture looks like. A thin layer of smoke covers much of eastern WA, with denser plumes closer to the above mentioned areas (partially obscured by upper level clouds). Forecast for eastern WA Winds will die down and allow smoke to start accumulating later today through Thursday morning. This could lead to areas of Very Unhealthy air in parts of Okanogan and Stevens Counties. Unhealthy conditions currently seen in Spokane are likely to improve slightly as winds turn northeasterly. Here's what the Canadian FireWork model is predicting for 2PM Wednesday (left) and 5AM Thursday:   Not expecting much clearing until late Thursday, but by then we might have smoke...
Read more

Rain this weekend! Bad news for fires.

Image
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 s moke 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...
Read more