‘The smoke is coming, people’ — air quality alert issued for Western WA through Monday
The excessive heat warning has passed, but now an air quality alert for Western Washington has been issued by the National Weather Service.
“The smoke is coming, people. No joke,” the state’s Emergency Management Division warned late Friday.
The National Weather Service issued an air quality alert because of the increase in smoke from the many wildfires happening in Washington and British Columbia. The alert is in place from late Saturday morning through Monday morning.
Air quality levels are expected to reach moderate to unhealthy for sensitive groups throughout the weekend, and could reach unhealthy levels by Sunday, according to a tweet from the Washington Department of Ecology.
The Puget Sound Clean Air Agency is advising people to limit their exposure outside and to use air purifiers if available.
Tacoma will have a high of 76 degrees today with widespread haze from noon to 4 p.m. and widespread smoke after 4 p.m. The widespread smoke in Tacoma will continue on to Sunday, when it will be partly sunny with a high near 81 degrees and a low of around 55 degrees.
The timing and severity is less clear for Thurston County, but air quality remained good into early Saturday afternoon. For current air quality conditions, visit www.orcaa.org.
Temperatures have cooled off since earlier in the week, but fire dangers still exist due to the dry conditions, according to the National Weather Service.
Multiple counties across the state have issued Stage 2 burn bans, including Pierce County. The burn ban in unincorporated Pierce County was put into effect Aug. 18 and bans the use of any firepits, including those in backyards.
Air quality information can be found at the Washington Smoke Blog or at your local air quality agency.
This story was originally published August 19, 2023 at 10:22 AM.
