Smoke again in forecast for Western Washington this week
The smoke season in western Washington isn’t over yet.
Wildfires raging in northern California have forced 30,000 residents to evacuate their homes as of Monday. Flames have consumed homes, a winery, a hotel and a school, among other structures.
Smoke from those fires could arrive in Puget Sound by Wednesday morning, according to the National Weather Service in Seattle.
The NWS said the smoke could linger for up to three days.
“It’s unclear how much smoke would be headed our way (and therefore how impactful it may be) as that is strongly tied to how much fire activity there is over the coming days,” the service said in a memo. “Stay tuned — we will provide updates as we learn more.”
However, the smoke is expected to be high in the atmosphere so its impact on air quality should be much less than the smoke earlier this month, Dustin Guy, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Seattle, told The Seattle Times.
“Whatever gets up this way will be pushed east fairly quickly,” Guy said. “We’re not looking at anything like what we had a few weeks ago.”
Smoke from the previous spate of local, Oregon and California fires cleared out of Puget Sound skies just over a week ago, thanks largely to a deluge of rain.
Highs will be in the 70s and 80s this week, with no rain in sight.
This story was originally published September 28, 2020 at 1:55 PM with the headline "Smoke again in forecast for Western Washington this week."
