For the test, do a wildfire smoke forecast for Washington State, including potential surface impacts.
The 6:31 a.m. satellite image this morning is ominous, with the southern smoke line just south of Olympia. Clouds are low along the coast and some convective clouds are higher in Idaho.
Look closely and you can see the silhouette of the Idaho clouds above the column of smoke.
The smoke appears most opaque in the early morning and evening when the sun angle is low. About 3 hours later than the picture above, the smoke is clearer; If you look closely, the southern boundary of the smoke is starting to shift northward.
It is important to know the three-dimensional nature of the smoke, and the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency ceilometer shows a vertical structure (see diagram below for Marysville ceilometer). (see below)
This is PurpleAir’s latest air quality map. Terrible air quality west of the Rockies. Some smoky air is mixing in and near higher terrain in Washington and southwestern BC, but particle levels are modest.
Smoke prediction
Now that’s good news for Washington State. The winds are turning more south and southwest, which will move the smoke away from us.
Winds predicted at 700 hPa (about 3000 meters or 10,000 ft) this morning at 11 a.m. are southerly (from the south) over western Oregon and Washington and southwest over southern BC (see below) .
Such winds will tend to move the smoke northward. And the winds of the same level in the morning would be even more favorable for pushing the smoke away.
A deep drop in temperatures is expected starting Sunday, so get your sweaters ready.
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Interested in a free lecture at UW on How will we prevent fossil fuels from causing global warming by Professor Myles Allen of the University of Oxford? It will take place at 7pm on May 25 at UW’s Kane Hall, and you can get more information and sign up below. Professor Allen is a very good and internationally renowned speaker; The talk will probably fill up quickly, so book early if you want to go.
