SEATTLE — Remember the terrible wildfire smoke that caused air quality to plummet last year?
Some wildfire smoke aloft could make our skies a little hazy Thursday, but no low-level air quality impacts are expected, according to KIRO 7 Meteorologist Nick Allard.
The smoke is coming from wildfires in Alberta, Canada.
The National Weather Service said that at sunrise Wednesday, a satellite image showed high-level smoke covering the northern half of the state.
Alberta wildfires continue to push upper-level smoke and haze over our area. It does look like most if not all of the smoke and haze will stay aloft and not impact air quality. I’ll still keep an eye on it. #wawx #NickKnows pic.twitter.com/ZHtCpNbw0y
— Nick Allard (@NickAllardKIRO7) May 17, 2023
Last October, wildfire smoke caused King County to activate its severe weather shelter. For much of the month, air quality was at the moderate to unhealthy range in parts of Western Washington, which was under an Air Quality Alert.
Also that month, Seattle took the top spot for the worst air quality in the world among major cities for two days in a row, according to IQAir’s air quality and pollution city ranking.
Meanwhile, fire officials are sounding the alarm as brush fires have already started in the area, much earlier than usual. The Washington State Department of Natural Resources reports that over this past weekend, more than 200 acres burned.
CANADIAN FIRES LEAD TO HEAVY SMOKE IN 2015
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