When it comes to Western Washington's weather, there's good news and bad news.
Wednesday marked the start of a cooling trend, bringing lower temperatures through the end of the week and scattered showers this weekend. But wind gusts could blow wildfire smoke from the Bear Gulch fire burning on the Olympic Peninsula toward King County, bringing the potential for unhealthy air and hazy skies, according to the National Weather Service.
It’s hard to say how much it will push today, but it will definitely be noticeable," said National Weather Service meteorologist Kayla Mazurkiewicz.
The weather agency issued an air quality alert in Mason County that remains in effect until Friday, warning that air quality in areas closest to the fire could reach unhealthy or hazardous levels.
Puget Sound Clean Air Agency said there could be "brief periods," more likely on Wednesday and Thursday nights, when air quality is unhealthy for sensitive groups in Kitsap, Pierce and King counties due to the smoke.
Still, air quality in King County will not likely deteriorate beyond the "moderate" level, said Beth Friedman, a lead air quality modeler and forecaster for the Washington State Department of Ecology, in an email.
On Wednesday, "folks around King County will likely notice haze, smell some smoke and see vibrant sunrises and sunsets,” Friedman said.
Satellite images captured on Wednesday morning showed two “impressive narrow bands” of smoke moving across the state from the Mount Underwood fire on Vancouver Island in Canada and the Bear Gulch fire, Friedman said.
A large pyrocumulus cloud — also called a “fire cloud” — formed on Tuesday above the Bear Gulch fire as intense heat from the flames cooled and condensed while rising in the atmosphere. Smoke is staying higher in the atmosphere and causing fewer “surface level” impacts because of the fire’s intense heat and high elevation, Friedman said.
People nearest the Bear Gulch fire just east of Lake Cushman are expected to see "very unhealthy" smoke. Wind should push the smoke later in the day Wednesday, bringing fog and moderate smoke to the Hoodsport area in Mason County, according to the U.S. Interagency Wildland Fire Air Quality Response Program.
Where skies are smokiest, Mazurkiewicz recommended reducing exposure by staying inside, using indoor air filters or traveling somewhere with cleaner air.
I know with the heat, it’s hard to stay inside with the windows closed,” she said. “But hopefully over the next couple days it will get better.”
The Bear Gulch fire has grown to upward of 8,200 acres as of Wednesday. It was 3% contained.
Hot and dry weather, steep and heavily forested terrain and plenty of available fuels on Tuesday fueled a roughly 1,200-acre run, producing a smoke column visible as far as Seattle and Aberdeen.
Firefighters are improving existing roads and trails south and west of Lake Cushman as contingency lines.
About an inch of rain expected to start falling late Thursday should slow the fire’s spread, but it won’t bring an end to the wildfire season, an event that would require several inches of rain over multiple days, said Don Ferguson, a spokesperson for the Bear Gulch fire.
The area surrounding the fire could see another warm, dry and windy period later this summer.
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