We usually don't see smoke in the air around here until August. But what could be a warning for a long smoke season is in North Central Washington now. And the smoke is coming from more than five hundred miles away.
Wildfires from Alberta, Canada, are responsible for the hazy conditions, according to National Weather Service Meteorologist Laurie Nisbet in Spokane, who says a cold front moved through Canada and pushed a lot of smoke across the border into the United States, including portions of Central and Eastern Washington.
The smoke is thick enough to prompt the State Department of Ecology to issue its first air quality alert of the season for the region, including all or portions of Okanogan, Adams, Ferry, Lincoln, Pend Oreille, Spokane, Stevens and Whitman counties. Air quality readings have been good to slightly moderate in the Chelan and Wenatchee areas. The air quality alert, which was first issued Wednesday evening, is expected to last through Saturday morning. Nisbet expects winds to push the smoke out of the region today.