Weather Impact Alert: Unhealthy air quality expected in the Inland Northwest Monday

[00:00:04]Hi folks. Thanks so much for joining us here on KREM 2. I'm Jenny Power and we are under a weather impact alert. Thanks so much for joining us here because this is when we get the extended amount of time here to really get in-depth with what we are seeing weather-wise out across the Inland Northwest and why we're under this weather impact alert for the day today. Well, it's because I'm tracking the return of some smoke and haze that could even be dropping our air quality levels in the Spokane area into the unhealthy category. And when we reach unhealthy, that's when it starts to impact everyone. So, as we move into this afternoon, we'll be monitoring the air quality very closely, but when we drop to unhealthy, limiting your time outdoors is advised as well as avoiding any strenuous outdoor activity because again, unhealthy air quality, it could lead to things like some illnesses, feeling nauseous, light-headedness, especially for folks that might be particularly sensitive. So, as far as what we're waking up to right now and as we take a look at our current air quality at 9:00 a.m. here on this Monday morning, we have been seeing already some pockets of unhealthy air quality up toward Northeast Washington and Chewelah. We've also been seeing some unhealthy air quality south to parts of northern Oregon. However, moving forward, we have this in place, an air quality alert that was put in place by the Spokane Regional Clean Air Agency as we're looking at the potential of dropping into the unhealthy category which again, could impact everyone. So, that's what we have for Spokane County.

[00:01:27]Right now, we're also waking up to still some air quality alerts across the North Idaho Panhandle. However, these are going to be re-evaluated at noon. So, that's when we'll have some updates for you there. But for now, the big one that we're looking out for is included for Spokane County as this will be in place until at least Tuesday, continuing to be re-evaluated as the week goes on. So, let's take a look at what's happening weather-wise and where we're seeing some of these fires and the smoke coming from. We do have some fires that are burning toward parts of Central Washington. We've even seen some fires in parts of Oregon as well as up in Canada. And so, the shift of our wind here is leading to some more intense smoke that we're bracing to see through this afternoon and into the evening, overnight tonight, and early morning hours of tomorrow. So, that's why we have these air quality concerns because with that heavier, more intense smoke is when we could be seeing our air quality conditions deteriorate at the surface level. Speaking about the surface level, this is another model that I want to walk us through here because this estimates when we could actually start to see that impact closer to the surface. And smoke near the surface is really what translates into a deteriorating air quality for us living in the Inland Northwest. So, this is one model's depiction of how this is going to move as we move forward through this afternoon and this evening.

[00:02:43]Concentrated more up toward areas of Northeast Washington as well as North Idaho. We did see a pretty significant fire spark out toward Nespelem, and so that is one area where we could even be dropping into the hazardous range as we move forward into tonight or this afternoon and this evening. By tomorrow, some of the heavier smoke is expected to be concentrated more up toward Northeast Washington and in the Idaho Panhandle.

[00:03:07]And right now, conditions are looking like Spokane and Coeur d'Alene could see a little bit of a break. However, tracking wildfire smoke is one of the trickier things that we try to accomplish here just because winds could shift a little bit, therefore shifting who gets a little bit more of intense smoke. Also, this time of year, we could see new fire start, and then that would also change air quality conditions across the region. But that's kind of our estimate for now. Our winds throughout the day today are going to be very, very light. Light enough where it can shift that wildfire smoke, but not strong enough where it could push out that out of our region. So, what we're seeing is when any of that smoke moves and fills in, for example, in parts of Spokane, it's expected to stick around as our winds are going to be very light here over the next few days. Through our future tracker, not only are we seeing smoke and haze out there, but mostly cloudy skies. So, it's going to be pretty overcast out there on top of seeing that smoke and haze in the distance. It will be cloudy through this afternoon. It's not until tomorrow that we start to see a gradual clearing trend, partly cloudy skies, but we'll still most likely be dealing with some of that smoke and haze. Your temperatures this afternoon are on the warmer side, actually above average. Low 90s for Spokane. We are looking at some mid-80s through the North Idaho Panhandle. 88° is the high for Deer Park and Newport. We've got some upper 80s across the LC Valley. Low 90s for Moses Lake and Ritzville. We're also seeing 92° is the high for Chelan, Wenatchee 94°, and Omak 91° for Richland and the Lower Columbia Basin. But moving forward, not only are we going to be concerned with the smoke and haze for this upcoming work week, but also high heat and potentially even ending the week with critical fire danger. So, what you need to know as we move forward is we do have some extreme heat watches for the Yakima Valley and the Lower Columbia Basin as these areas are looking at a couple of days here where highs could reach into the triple digits. We even have some heat advisories out in Western Washington as they are going to be hanging on or going to be seen, I should say, an increase in temperatures. We can really see that as we take a look at the next 7 days here.

[00:05:09]Highs will bump up into the upper 90s by Wednesday and Thursday. Uh some areas isolated south to the Lower Columbia Basin are looking at those triple digits. What does get a little bit tricky is with increasing smoke, which we could see by the middle of the week, that could actually lead to some cooler temperatures. But of course, if we do see that happen, then that would lead to even worsened air quality. Moving forward to the end of the week, what we're watching out for are is going to be the return of some instability.

[00:05:37]winds, even gusty at times, which we are seeing after several days of hot and dry conditions, that could mean elevated fire danger. We even have the slight risk of the return of some isolated thunderstorm activity with which it we could see lightning and then unfortunately new fire start. So, that's the big heads up there. It's going to be a pretty active week as we move forward, but we want to keep it as organized as we possibly can, which is why for now we are just having a weather impact alert for Monday to go in accordance with that air quality alert for Spokane County so that we don't get too overwhelmed with what's to come here in the next 7 days.

[00:06:12]Temperatures for this upcoming weekend are going to be slightly cooler highs there in the upper 80s, but mostly dry forecast ahead of us with the exception that we could see those isolated thunderstorms Thursday and Friday. Of course, for the latest updates make sure you have the KREM 2 app. Of course, if you are streaming with us right now, I'm sure that you found it, but as always you can get it on both your TV and your phone. So, you have a couple different access points there. It is completely free. That's where you can also stream our live local radar 24/7 as well as get round-the-clock updates on the forecast you need to know to stay prepared because air quality is going to be that big thing that we monitor throughout the day today. As always, stay safe, stay hydrated, and when it comes to being outside might want to limit your time with the unhealthy air quality today.