Seattle residents woke up to a red sunrise Wednesday and Thursday, with the arrival of unseasonably early wildfire smoke. But while the haze will make for some interesting views, the smoke won’t affect air quality here, the National Weather Service said.
The smoke hanging over the northern half of Washington is drifting in from Alberta and British Columbia in Canada, where about 150 active fires are burning.
Calgary smoke plumes have been carried into the contiguous 48 through jet streams in recent weeks, from the Northern Rockies to the East Coast.
Though our northern neighbors are seeing air quality that is among the worst in the world, smoke locally is not likely to reach the surface or affect air quality here, said meteorologist Dev McMillian.
Suspended “several thousand feet” in the atmosphere, smoke was expected to linger at least through early Thursday and likely will be cleared out by southwesterly winds by Friday, he said.
Washington saw a relatively mild year for wildfire smoke last year, but there were periods when residents were afflicted with some of the worst air in Seattle since the wildfires three seasons ago.
Keep tabs on air quality at airnow.gov or Washington smoke information at wasmoke.blogspot.com.
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