Rain showers Thursday evening could calm smoky skies
Less than one inch of rain predicted to fall Thursday night and into the weekend could nonetheless bring some relief to smoky skies across the Pacific Northwest.
A storm that has been “spinning off the coast” is expected to touch down after 8 P.M., the National Weather Service office in Seattle reports.
The storm is expected to move inland from Washington and Oregon to Idaho and Montana. Although the rainfall will be slight, increased humidity should help tamp down on current blazes and limit the threat of new fires, AccuWeather reports.
However, the rain may be accompanied by thunderstorms overnight, which carry the risk of sparking new fires while old ones dissipate.
The air quality index was 205 in Lacey and 238 in Chehalis on Thursday morning, remaining in the “very unhealthy” zone, according to the Department of Ecology’s AQI tracker. However, parts of Western Washington along the Pacific Coast showed improvement, moving back under 100 into the “moderate” and “good” zones.
Where is the smoke coming from?
These handy maps from WA Smoke Blog show where the wildfires are that are producing the smoke that’s filling Washington’s skies.
This story was originally published September 17, 2020 at 9:42 AM.
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