Area temperatures reach record levels, but so far smoke stays aloft. Here’s what’s next

While five Western Washington counties were placed on air quality alerts Thursday due to smoke blowing in from wildfires in British Columbia, Thurston County’s air quality has remained in the good to moderate range.

But a second heat wave arrived in earnest Thursday, and Thurston County and its region were not spared. Olympia tied its record of 96 degrees for Aug. 12 set in 1977. Hoquiam set a new record of 88, beating out its old record of 84.

Forecasters said hot weather and wildfire smoke would pose a problem through the weekend.

The heat

The high temperature was supposed to hit 95 in Olympia Friday afternoon, narrowly avoiding the triple digits expected in Portland.

Temperatures in Portland reached 103 degrees on Thursday — 20 degrees above average. In Bellingham, the high hit 100 degrees for the first time on record.

Much of the Northwest was under an excessive heat warning through Saturday. The National Weather Service said heat advisories and warnings were also in effect from the Midwest to the Northeast and mid-Atlantic through at least Friday.

Olympia area residents will need to endure another day of hot weather Saturday, when the high is expected to reach 90 degrees. But high temperatures are expected to drop to 81 on Sunday and the mid 70s by Monday and Tuesday.

But keep the AC and fans handy. Temperatures are expected to rise again into the high 80s on Thursday and Friday, and back up to 90 on Saturday, Aug. 21.

The smoke

An air quality alert was issued through Saturday night for much of northwestern Washington because of smoke drifting in from blazes in the eastern part of the state and British Columbia.

National Weather Service forecaster Mike McFarland said that the smoke is mainly north of Seattle, where air quality alerts were issued Thursday for Whatcom, Skagit, Island, Jefferson and Clallam counties.

But the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency issued a wildfire smoke alert Friday morning for King, Kitsap, Pierce, and Snohomish counties, where it expects air quality to be unhealthy for sensitive groups, such as people with heart or lung disease, older adults, children and pregnant women.

The smoke is expected to clear on Saturday, but air quality levels will still be moderate for much of the day. Its website suggested that sensitive groups avoid running, cycling or walking outside.

Upper-level smoke from California will pass overhead on Saturday and Sunday, keeping skies hazy but shouldn’t make air quality worse at the ground level, the agency said.

“There’s smoke aloft right now so it looks terrible...,” McFarland said. “A lot of times the smoke’s aloft, but you’re not breathing it.

“Down through Tacoma and Olympia, nearly all the sensors are in the green,” he said.

The haze in Seattle and north of the city is forecast to stay through Friday night and into Saturday. McFarland said it should begin to clear Saturday night and be clear by Sunday.

The Associated Press and The Olympia staff contributed to this report.

This story was originally published August 13, 2021 at 1:21 PM.