Smoky skies return and stay awhile this week

We’ve had a light haze across the sky these last few days thanks to some wildfire smoke from the western United States. Thankfully, the smoke hasn’t reached the ground to any significant extent, and this will remain the case through the week as of right now. The skies, on the other hand, will be a different story.

Numerous significant wildfires are raging across Idaho, Oregon, western Montana, and southern California. The smoke being emitted by these wildfires is very evident on satellite imagery off to our west this afternoon as it makes its way in our direction.

By late tonight and tomorrow morning, a thicker cloud of smoke will be moving overheard the Weather First area. Model guidance indicates that this thick smoke will be sticking around until at least Thursday, with the thickest of the smoke arriving Wednesday afternoon. This comes as wildfire smoke is lofted to the west and brought eastward over our area by upper level westerly winds.

Thankfully, there are no expectations that any of this smoke will reach the surface as of now. We’ll be monitoring the smoke forecast closely over the next few days, especially for any changes in the ground smoke forecast. For now, no air quality alerts are posted, nor are they expected at this time.

By the end of the week, upper level winds will become more southwesterly, which should act to waft the smoke out of our area and lower the atmospheric concentrations a bit. With that said, expect that hazy look to the skies to stick around a majority of this next week.