‘Get ready for a major smoke event:’ Air quality expected to worsen before it clears up

Smoky skies are back in full force, and that’s not expected to change for several days.

As winds shift and pick up, thick smoke from hundreds of wildfires burning in British Columbia is being pushed into the South Sound.

“Get ready for a major smoke event,” Cliff Mass, a University of Washington meteorologist, wrote on his weather blog.

The National Weather Service issued an air quality alert for Western Washington through Wednesday.

Tacoma’s air was “unhealthy” Monday, with nearby communities like South Hill and Auburn registering as “very unhealthy,” according to the state Department of Ecology.

Air quality is expected to worsen throughout the day.

Here’s the “harsh reality,” courtesy of the Washington Smoke Information page:

There will be “no significant smoke clearing expected before Wednesday for most of the state.”

It’ll take until at least Friday for Eastern Washington.

All athletic practices for Tacoma Public Schools have been moved indoors, a district spokesman said.

Planes at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport were grounded for a few hours Sunday due to low visibility, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. Traffic controllers are keeping planes further apart to ensure safety since smoke continues to limit visibility.

A Red Flag Warning is in effect for Whatcom, Snohomish and Skagit counties.

Temperatures will remain in the 80s the next few days, and high winds and low humidity could increase the chances of more fires starting, the Weather Service said.

There are 17 large fires burning on more than 300,000 acres across Washington and Oregon with about 8,200 fire personnel deployed, according to the Northwest Interagency Coordination Center.

About 550 fires are burning in British Columbia, the Associated Press reported.

Wildfires this year are 15 percent higher than the state’s annual average over the last five years, according to a state Department of National Resources spokeswoman.

There have been more than 1,122 wildfires on 295,734 acres of state land this year.

Children, elderly folks and people with respiratory illness could experience scratchy throats, itchy eyes and coughs.

Health experts recommend limiting exercise outdoors until the smoke clears.

Air pollution in the Tacoma area Monday was worse than some of the world’s most populated cities like Bejing and Delhi, according to the Environmental Protection Agency’s air-quality index.

This story was originally published August 20, 2018 at 10:56 AM.