Smoky skies stick around for a while
Julian Raygoza, of Moses Lake, has asthma and as a result his mom Brenda made him wear a mask when doing outdoor activities, like picking up papers at the Columbia Basin Herald.
MOSES LAKE - It looks a little like rain out there but it's not, and all that smoke from regional forest fires is going to hang around for a while.
"What we really need is a big nice change of air mass. Kind of a wet system to push this stuff out of here," said Ty Judd, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Spokane, on Thursday. Unfortunately it's not looking very promising for the rainy windy weather that would help clear the air, he said.
"We're in a very stagnant pattern," Judd said, with high pressure overhead and storms going to the north and south. The resulting air pattern is commonly called an inversion, where the stagnant air acts like a wall; the smoke hits the inversion layer, Judd said, and spreads out because it has nowhere else to go.
Air quality in any given location depends on wind and weather conditions. "It can change rapidly," said Todd Phillips, environmental health facilitator for the Grant County Health District. The health district has issued a chart to help people determine air quality through visibility.
Five to 10 miles visibility is considered "moderate" air quality and people who have compromised respiratory systems or other chronic health problems should reduce outdoor activities. Three to five miles visibility is considered "unhealthy for sensitive groups;" in those conditions, children and older adults should reduce any prolonged exertion outdoors.
As of Thursday Grant County's air quality was listed as moderate, according to the National Weather Service. But as of 9 a.m. Thursday, Quincy's air quality was listed as unhealthy for those sensitive groups.
Air quality in all of central Washington has been affected by fires. It's so bad in Wenatchee that today's football game between Wenatchee and Eastmont (East Wenatchee) high schools was moved to Moses Lake.
This could be the first time in the century-old rivalry that the game was forced out of town. "I think the smoky conditions are a first for a lot of people in north central Washington," said Wenatchee athletic director B.J. Kuntz.
Janet Hurd, emergency room director at Samaritan Healthcare in Moses Lake, said the emergency room has seen three or four people with respiratory distress that could be related to the fires. "So far, but I don't think we're through it yet," she said. Hospital officials in Quincy and Ephrata did not return phone calls asking for comment.
"As we keep saying, there is no clear evidence of long term harm from a week or two exposure to wildfire smoke in a community," said Barry Kling, Chelan-Douglas Health District administrator, in a press release issued Thursday. People have to decide for themselves how much they want to be outdoors in current conditions, Phillips said. "You have to use your own judgement a lot," he said.
"For everyone, it makes sense to do all you can to minimize your exposure, especially for children," Kling said.
"Smoke is made up of small dust particles and other pollutants that can aggravate respiratory diseases. Face masks help with filtering some of those particulates out of the breathed air," Phillips wrote.