PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – It took a full day to get that nasty haze out of here, and it’ll take about another day or two for it to fill back in our direction. Air quality has dropped to the good category around the Portland metro area. Unfortunately, the air quality around the region may decline as we work through the remainder of the week (and potentially the weekend).
An air quality advisory is in place until 6 p.m. Friday. You can see some of the locations in the graphic below that may be impacted by the deteriorating air quality forecast. That means a haziness is going to return for the region. Nearby smoke that is banked over the Nakia Creek Fire is noticeable from the distance in Portland Tuesday afternoon. That smoke will be transported in our region, and it will disperse across the sky. This is one of the main contributions to a diminishing air quality (that and another blocking ridge of high pressure).
The surface smoke forecast will give an idea of the distribution of that smoke in our region come Tuesday evening. You can use the slideshow below to see what that will look like come Wednesday. This doesn’t take into consideration the wildfire smoke that is moving across the region from other nearby wildfires.
We know that the terrain and the overall dry conditions of the fuels around here is not a great combination for wildfire conditions. We do have a relative humidity that is manageable, meaning it is much higher than at other times of the year and in other areas of the state. That means the transport of moisture to the fuels is better than it would be if it was much lower.
Regardless, a tough terrain and an active fire is tough to combat. Over the next day the wind will gust at times to about 15 mph. It will again pick up on Wednesday afternoon. Cycle through the slideshow below to see the wind forecast for the Nakia Creek Fire for the next 24 hours.
