Air Quality Alert For Puget Sound Begins Monday Night

SEATTLE, WA - The National Weather Service in Seattle is issuing an air quality alert for central Puget Sound due to smoke from wildfires. The alert goes into effect Monday at 6 p.m. and will last for at least 24 hours. Beginning Tuesday night, coastal air will begin pushing the wildfire smoke out of the region, according to forecasts.

According to the air quality alert, smoke from wildfires burning in Montana and Eastern Washington will more thickly fill the air Monday night and Tuesday during the day. The air quality will be poor for at-risk groups, like children and the elderly.

"Smoke from wildfires in Eastern Washington and Montana will drift westward across Western Washington through Tuesday night. The central Puget Sound Region and the mountains will be the most impacted by the smoke. Expect the air quality to become unhealthy for sensitive groups late tonight through Tuesday evening," the alert says.

As of Monday evening, readings collected by the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency indicated air quality was still relatively good at monitoring sites between Lynnwood and Puyallup. But wildfire smoke is visible in the sky, especially closer to the Cascades.

There are dozens of fires burning across Eastern Washington, the Idaho panhandle, and Montana. The closest fire to the Puget Sound area is the Quarry Fire, a 130-acre fire burning in the Cascades northeast of Fall City. Many local resources are being mobilized to battle the Jolly Mountain complex of fires. Those fires have burned over 21,000 acres as of Monday, and about 1,000 people in the Cle Elum area have been evacuated.

The U.S. Forest Service operates a map of all wildfires and hot-spots across the country, which you can find here.

Image via Jolly Mountain Fire