UPDATED - Sep 07, 2017 at 4pm Pacific Standard Time

If you live in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, or western Montana, you are SICK of the smoke, and some literally, with very poor air quality, you can taste the air up here, and it sucks. I feel trapped in this smoky environment, and have even been to Glacier National Park recently, which was also very smoky and lackluster due to this relentless smoke we have had for so long. We all know that the fires aren't going anywhere until the rains come. Sadly, our summers are so short, and we have to kiss this one goodbye gladly, in order to see any changes in our smoked-out situation (THE ENTIRE PACIFIC NORTHWEST IS COVERED IN SMOKE TO SOME DEGREE...):


So I feel it is my duty to let you know when this stuff is going to at least improve (decrease, scatter), and when the rains are going to start stamping these fires out, because, that is the only factor that is going to put an end to them...




We will make this quick (kind of):

Friday the 8th and through this weekend... Smoke scatters out a bit with the movement of a low pressure circulation through the region. Visibility, especially across the Inland Northwest areas of the US including eastern Washington and north Idaho, will improve for about 12 to 24 hours, then the deeper/ thicker smoke starts trying to return over the weekend as higher pressure ridging builds in across the region. It looks like more low pressure to the north clips the Spokane-Coeur d'Alene region with wind and slight instability (rising air currents), and this is why I say "...trying to return...", since this weather feature should keep the really stagnant and smoky conditions from returning just yet. As of today (Thursday the 7th) the Seattle area and Willamette Valley are clearing out some with more minimal smoke to contend with, and Portland is just now (this afternoon) showing visibility going to unrestricted after being restricted by smoke.

Monday through Wednesday or so of next week (11th-13th)... High pressure ridging builds in, air is mostly capped vertically (trapping smoke in the lower layers of the atmosphere), and we return to the smoke soup (low visibility, lung affecting)...

By the 14th/ 15th we see another low pressure system moving in and stirring up smoke, allowing for some clearing of the skies and improvement of air quality, though, the fires rage on. This system may provide some rain to the region by the 16th-18th, and this would help to start putting out these fires and drastically improving our skies and air quality, plus help our forests.

By the 19th-21st... Another low pressure system may sweep through and help to scatter any smoke that is still around, and there should still be plenty unfortunately.

In the last week of September... We are looking at the possibility of wet Pacific (Gulf of Alaska origin) storms starting to move through the region. This would definitely kill the fire season once and for all, so we are definitely looking for this to pan out and bring us our beautiful blue skies and crisp landscape back, plus end the suffering of our forest creatures and trees.

This accumulated precipitation loop (below) for the 17th through the 23rd of September shows the potential incoming rain amounts in that time frame, ranging from .4" to an inch of rain for much of the region being affected by fires (multiple inches of rain for the Cascade Mountains), enough to mostly put them out or at least stunt any progress, also almost completely stamping out the smoke in our skies...

THIS POSTING WILL BE UPDATED REGULARLY SO CHECK BACK FOR UPDATES...

If you have any questions, feel free to email me at chris@snowforecast.com. CM

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