It’s another afternoon of tragedy, as those massive wildfires continue to burn closer and closer to Portland. Firefighters in Clackamas county have been told to disengage due to increased fire behavior and instead focus on managing evacuations. Beyond scary stuff.

Level 3 evacuations have been expanded to include Molalla, while also expanding the Level 2 evacuation zone to include Canby and Oregon City. The Riverside fire will continue to push closer to these population centers throughout the afternoon and evening. Many reports are coming in of homes being destroyed, so please keep everyone affected down there in your thoughts and prayers. I’ve said it before, and i’ll say it again. My heart is absolutely broken watching this situation unfold. So many lives are being affected by these fires.

Thankfully a shift to more onshore flow will bring in some cooler and more moist air, which should aid in firefighting efforts going into Friday. Regardless, it will likely be another long night for many down on the SE side of the Portland Metro area. Air quality has quickly deteriorated in Portland as winds begin to shift to a more southerly flow, bringing all of that smoke from the Riverside fire straight into downtown. AQI measurements are ranging from 300-450 around Portland, which is well into the hazardous air range.

AQI readings are generally in the Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups range around the Seattle Metro, but that will start to change as winds shift tonight.

Smoke from these fires will continue to be a problem all throughout the west coast over the next few days. Taking a look at the HRRR smoke model starting at midnight tonight, you can see the heaviest near surface smoke extends from Seattle southward through Oregon as a shift in our winds from easterly to southerly starts to filter smoke up the I-5 corridor.

By 10am tomorrow morning, all of Cascadia will be experiencing heavy smoke and hazardous air quality as those fires continue to burn.

This last model image is for 3pm on Friday, showing the region of heaviest smoke making it up to Seattle.

Our air quality will be tanking tonight in Seattle, so be sure to close windows and limit time outdoors tomorrow. Onshore flow will continue to increase through the weekend, which will help firefighting efforts. However, there is so much smoke up and down the west coast, so it is safe to assume that we will be dealing with periods of moderate to heavy smoke over the next few days. Stay safe everyone!