Smoldering Bolt Creek fire blankets greater Seattle area with smoke
Sep 21, 2022, 10:02 AM | Updated: 7:10 pm
Smoke & haze from the Bolt Creek fire smoke blowing into Seattle Wednesday morning (Credit the Seattle Weather Blog)
(Credit the Seattle Weather Blog)
The Bolt Creek fire continues to burn Wednesday morning, and its smoke has blanketed the northwestern part of the state, resulting in unhealthy levels of air quality for the region.
While the fire just north of Skykomish has been largely contained by crews working with the U.S. Forest Service and Department of Natural Resources, “clear skies and slightly higher temperatures created a drying trend … resulting in … smoldering of vegetation,” a spokesperson for the Northwest Interagency Coordination Center wrote in an update on the Bolt Creek fire.
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That smoldering has increased the fire’s smoke which has pushed its way west, according to University of Washington meteorologist Cliff Mass.
“The plume of terrible surface air quality [has exited] from the Skykomish Valley from the Bolt Creek fire, which then heads south over Seattle,” Mass wrote in a recent blog post.
While air quality in northwestern Washington suffers Tuesday morning — the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency has rated it unhealthy for sensitive groups — conditions are expected to improve as soon as Thursday.
“A change in the overall weather pattern is underway. In the past few days, we have had an east-to-west air flow across the Cascades, bringing the wildfire smoke from events in the mountains westward,” said KIRO Newsradio meteorologist Ted Buehner.
“Now, the low-level flow will shift to onshore – from the Pacific Ocean inland tonight and through tomorrow, blowing the wildfire smoke in the Puget Sound area eastward, and also bring marine clouds and cooler conditions tomorrow.”
While Thursday marks the fall equinox, bringing an official end to the summer season, warm temperatures and favorable weather conditions are expected to persist into next week.
Higher pressure is expected to build over the Pacific Northwest again next week for a return to more sunshine and above seasonal average high temperatures in the 70s.
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