Western Washington smoke: Unhealthy to hazardous air hangs over region

SEATTLE — Air quality in Western Washington continues to be terrible on Thursday, nearly a week after an air quality alert was issued last week.

Since it was issued on Friday, Oct. 14, the air quality alert has been extended twice. It is currently slated to end late Thursday night with air quality slowly improving throughout the day.

The air quality has been so bad that Seattle has been listed among the cities with the worst air quality in the world, even reaching the #1 spot on Wednesday and again on Thursday.

With such poor air quality, health officials are urging people to stay inside. If you have to be outside, wearing an N95 mask is recommended, according to Washington’s emergency management division.

Three private schools decided to close or operate remotely on Thursday because of the smoky air: Forest Ridge School in Bellevue, Olympia Waldorf School, and Seattle Waldorf School.

Some school districts, including Seattle Public Schools, Tacoma Schools and the Mercer Island School District, are keeping students inside during recess and canceling sports and other outdoor events, or moving activities inside.

At Daniel Bagley Elementary in Seattle, kids who participated in the annual Great Shake Out earthquake drill ended up spending the school day inside because of the smoke.

Principal Angela Clement said the same thing happened Wednesday.

“We did in-class recesses in the morning and then we had students in the cafeteria during their lunch and recess,” she said.

Schools also canceled outdoor PE, sports events and practices, and outdoor field trips.

In the Highline School District, a group of students from Maritime High School returned early from a boat trip, as did a group of sixth graders at Camp Waskowitz in North Bend.

“We couldn’t justify keeping the students up there, it’s so close to the wildfires, the air quality index there was up past 250 and it was about 150 here so we felt like the safest thing to do was to bring them home early,” said Catherine Carbone Rogers, chief communications officer for the district.

Many school buildings have had improved air filtration in the last few years.

Since wildfire smoke has become more common here in just the last few years -- the state health department now has an air pollution and activities guide for schools.

Seattle Public Utilities said that due to the smoky air, both the North and South Transfer Stations are closed Thursday. If conditions improve, the stations will reopen Friday morning.

King County Parks said volunteer and outdoor events would most likely be canceled to protect parkgoers.

For the most part, the best air quality readings along Interstate 5 are registering at “unhealthy” levels, with a lot of areas in the “very unhealthy” range, according to AirNow.gov shortly before 1 p.m. Thursday.

Downtown Seattle and South Seattle were showing primarily very unhealthy air readings Thursday morning, but by early afternoon, some improvement was seen, with more sensors registering at unhealthy.

Most of the Eastside continues to show very unhealthy air quality.

A few places on the Eastside had an hazardous air quality index well above 350 on Thursday morning. “Hazardous” on the air quality index starts at 300.

What to expect - From Meteorologist Nick Allard

For most of Thursday, the air quality will remain poor, but a weakening system will push across the area, increasing clouds and some onshore wind along with a few isolated showers.

Air quality should improve a little in the afternoon and evening, but it’s not going to push all the smoke out. However, there will be noticeable improvement late Thursday with highs in the low 60s.

The big change will start on Friday with more clouds moving in as a front moves into Western Washington to start the weekend.

Friday morning could be mainly dry around Puget Sound, but by noon into Friday evening, rain will spread over the area. It will also get a little breezy, but wind forecasts have been coming down in speed over the past day or two.

Still, wind gusts over 20 mph can be expected. Sporadic, but likely quite limited, power outages and tree damage is still possible, especially nearer to the coast and right on Puget Sound.

High temperatures on Friday will be in the 50s to low 60s.

Rainfall with this Friday to Saturday weather system will average 0.50″ to 0.75″ in most lowland locations, with isolated higher amounts. One to three inches of rain will fall in the mountains below about 4,000 feet elevation, with first snows of the season for the higher peaks and passes. Two to four inches of snow could fall at Stevens Pass with possibly more at Mount Baker and Paradise.

This precipitation will greatly help bring the wildfire situation to a close, though flash flooding on burn scars is possible.

At Snoqualmie Pass, rain looks most likely but there could be some snow mixed in, too. Travel impacts should be minimal through the passes, unless flooding occurs on and near a burn scar.

Another weather system brings some more rain showers and mountain snow late Sunday into early Monday with the chance for more weather systems next week, though timing is very uncertain beyond the weekend.

VIDEO: Air quality concerns impacting local schools

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