More Unhealthy Air Before Rain Brings Relief: WA Smoke Forecast

SEATTLE — Relief may be on the horizon, but smoky air will stick around in Western Washington for at least another couple of days, with more significant impacts expected Wednesday before conditions begin to improve Thursday and rains arrive Friday.

Smoke from multiple fires burning on this side of the Cascades degraded air quality well into the unhealthy range for a large swath of Puget Sound Tuesday, particularly around Snohomish County, the Eastside and the Cascade foothills.

Communities closest to the fires saw air quality decline to the very unhealthy range Tuesday, even reaching hazardous — the highest risk level — around Skykomish, near the Bolt Creek Fire.

"Areas close to the fires in eastern King and Snohomish are experiencing very unhealthy to hazardous air quality," the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency warned Tuesday. "Expect similar impacts tomorrow and smoke to linger through Thursday. A large storm is expected to arrive on Fri/Sat and clear out the smoke."

Air quality forecasts for Wednesday show portions of King, Pierce and Snohomish counties facing similar conditions to Tuesday before things improve slightly Thursday. More meaningful relief is finally due Friday as the first of two fall storm systems arrives in Puget Sound. An air quality alert will remain in place across the region through Thursday afternoon.

Here are the latest air quality forecasts through Friday:

King County & Cascade Foothills

• Wednesday: 151 AQI (Red/Unhealthy)
• Thursday: 102 AQI (Orange/Unhealthy for sensitive groups)
• Friday: 21 AQI (Green/Good)

Readers can check out the latest smoke forecasts on the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency’s website and find live conditions via the EPA’s AirNow tool.