[Article by Ryan Porter of Snoqualmie Weather]
Well, I sure was envious looking at that 85° sunshine on the TV set this morning. Go Hawks! Fortunately, relief should be near for our current smoke situation.
Smoke was barely thinning aloft to end the weekend. I noticed a sun almost too bright to look (at times), and it didn’t totally disappear after 10 am like yesterday, so that was a plus I guess. Cough cough.
While air quality is still terrible and smoke remains trapped at the surface, we should slowly improve tonight, with the positive trend continuing into Monday and Tuesday.
As an upper ridge shifts inland Monday, an increasingly moist SW flow may bring a few showers Monday into Tuesday, though models have backed off as far as getting much if any precipitation. Still, stronger onshore push associated with this frontal system should help to clean up the air quality.
We will be in between frontal systems Wednesday, but with continued winds from the south, the smoke may make a brief return. Though hopefully, we won’t have the smoke stagnation near the surface like the last few days.
We probably get another shot at rain Friday-Saturday, and this front looks a bit unstable, meaning a chance of thunderstorms as it rolls through. Will keep an eye on it.
Further out, we may be seeing more of an intermediate-term shift in the weather pattern. As NWS said this week, “The dominant ridge of high pressure of recent weeks should be pushed to the south as low pressure develops over the Gulf of AK. This is a common seasonal shift that directs frontal systems to our region.”
Umm.. that would be a lot better for air quality and badly needed moisture to fight off the wildfires of the West.
Have a great week!
Almanac for Sep 14th (Snoqualmie Valley):
Average High: 68° Average: Low 47°
Sunrise: 6:46 am Sunset: 7:12 pm Daylight: ~12.5 hours
Moon Phase (current): Waning Crescent New Moon: Sep 17th
[Originally published at Snoqualmie Weather blog During active weather follow more frequent updates @snoqualmiewx]
Comments
Do the models say the air is smoky now? It looks smoky to me, but I need to know what the models say about it.
The models aren’t working well with the smoke. Cliff Mass has a good summary and explanation.
https://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2020/09/much-more-pessimistic-air-quality.html