It's gonna be a hot, smoky week around the Plateau to kick off the month of August. The gist is temps will ramp up throughout the week, as high as the low-90s by Thursday...but the worst smoke of the season (so far) is around the corner too. Let's walk through the next few days...
Tonight (Sunday): Based on the color of the sunset tonight, seems like some smoke is already in the area, though higher up in the atmosphere. Surface air quality is still very good - might be the last opportunity to keep windows open overnight for a few days.
Tomorrow (Monday): Afternoon highs will get to the mid- to upper-70s. Smoke will probably be noticeable in the skies after sunrise, and may increase at the surface as the day goes on - winds a few thousand feet up will turn from "onshore" to "offshore", which will push more smoke from BC and eastern Washington towards western Washington.
Tuesday: Heat builds as high as the mid-80s, but smoke increases too - potentially getting into the "unhealthy" category at times. This would be a day to stay indoors with air filters running, or wear an N95 mask if you have to spend more than a few minutes outside.
Wednesday and Thursday: Afternoon high temps could be as high as the upper-80s to low-90s. Smoke could be pretty thick both these days though, so we'll have to wait and see how things shape up as we get closer.
Now, all that being said...a couple reminders and disclaimers:
- Smoke can definitely impact on temps - it can decrease afternoon highs by several degrees, but it can also increase overnight lows by several degrees too.
- Smoke is incredibly hard to forecast (yes, even harder than snow). We can only make future predictions based on the current and historical conditions of fires...and those predictions are really only good for one or two days in the future. Since yesterday (Saturday) was a horrible day for fires across BC and Washington, this morning (Sunday) was the first time the computer models could give us an indication of what the next day or two might look like based on all that additional smoke - and who knows what will happen with the fires in the next day or two either.
Back tomorrow with more updates!