Seeing it? Smelling it? ‘Large smoke cloud’ over our area

(Friday night photo by David Moya)
Yes, that’s wildfire smoke coloring our skies – yellowish haze right now, last night’s moonset (above), today’s sunrise (below) …

(Saturday morning photo by Craig Young)
If you’re sensitive, you probably have even noticed a smoky smell in the air – two people messaged us last night from different areas of West Seattle, wondering if there was a major fire close by. You can find many images and explanations on the Web, but the most comprehensive combination we’ve found so far is from weather analyst Cliff Mass, who published this update on his site, headlined, “Large Smoke Cloud Heads for Puget Sound.” (Puget Sound Clean Air Agency expects the wind to change tomorrow, improving the air quality here.) For information on specific fires, InciWeb is a good source (other suggestions welcome!).

JayDee August 22, 2015 (3:09 pm)

I grew up in L.A. and we’d often wake to red sun and worse, ashes falling from the sky. I smelled the smoke in the Junction and am glad I am west of the mountains, even with the smoky skies.

sam-c August 22, 2015 (3:26 pm)

actually, I’m surprised there wasn’t more discussion of it first thing this morning, on Facebook, WSB or wherever. It was the first thing we noticed when we woke up, you could see it in the sky, the light was filtered into a hazy orange pink glow, you could smell the fire in the air. finally found info this morning on Cliff Mass blog. Amazingly, our air quality, while different than usual, is several times better than Spokane is right now. Hopefully, all of this ends soon, and there are no more lives lost. such a horrible situation for the state.

anonyme August 22, 2015 (3:43 pm)

Is there a burn ban on? If not, why not? We don’t need any more smoke in the air, and conditions are still parched.

datamuse August 22, 2015 (3:57 pm)

I’m in Spokane currently and it was awful here yesterday, the sky was yellow with smoke and even indoors in climate controlled buildings you could smell it. I’ve been to Beijing; this was worse.
.
Of course this was nothing compared to the situation where the wildfires are burning. Friends of mine have had to evacuate and still don’t know whether they have homes to go back to.

sam-c August 22, 2015 (4:32 pm)

I am surprised there wasn’t more discussion of this on social media, or here on WSB earlier in the day. It was the first thing we noticed when we woke up this morning, the sunlight through a hazy orange, pink weird glow. Definitely could smell the smoke. Thought it was the wildfires, and confirmed by checking Cliff Mass’ blog. Hopefully this ends soon, without more deaths. What a horrible tragedy for our state.

WSB August 22, 2015 (4:57 pm)

Sam-C, I like to think people were talking about it in person early in the day. (Or sooner – my son and I talked about it while driving on 99 late last night – the haze of smoke hung over the port and was visible in its big lights.) These photos came in hours before I published them but after working on tech stuff all night, I slept in and got a late start. Only a couple more weeks until fall makes that impossible. – TR

ChefJoe August 22, 2015 (4:52 pm)

Here’s one for your bookmarks anonyme, and King County pops up as a stage 1 ban.

https://waburnbans.net/

WSB August 22, 2015 (5:00 pm)

That is the unincorporated-area-only burn ban called earlier this summer:
.
http://www.kingcounty.gov/property/FireMarshal/BurnBanInfo.aspx
.
Does not affect Seattle. (Ironic, since, going back to 4th of July, the unincorp area does not ban fireworks, while the city does.)

k'lo August 22, 2015 (4:59 pm)

Wednesday night somebody was sending off those lighted luminary type things into the sky. Sure wish I could have seen who was doing it and talk to them about how assinine and dangerous their actions were!

Neal Chism August 22, 2015 (6:14 pm)

Puget Sound Clean Air is reporting all green!
.
http://www.pscleanair.org/airquality/ourairquality/Pages/default.aspx
.
However, a faster update rate situational map is from the Fire Service.
.
http://wasmoke.blogspot.com/2015_08_01_archive.html

KBear August 22, 2015 (6:40 pm)

Smell is getting very bad here. This is not just regional forest fires, somebody nearby is burning something illegally.

WSB August 22, 2015 (6:52 pm)

KB, seriously, that’s what people were saying when they contacted us last night – and it wasn’t a local fire, it’s just all this smoke. It’s an incredibly huge cloud. (And now the sun’s turning reddish again as it starts to drop closer to sunset level.) No fire calls in our area today, or last night for that matter.

Talani Sanislo August 22, 2015 (8:40 pm)

As always, thank you for great reporting.

anonyme August 23, 2015 (7:22 am)

The only ban I can find goes back to June 22. I can’t believe that recreational fires are still allowed. Ridiculous. How much of our state needs to be in flames before any state or local official takes meaningful action? All that’s missing is Nero.

I’m beginning to suffer symptoms from the smoky air, including coughing, sore throat, headache, insomnia – I’m sure many others are experiencing the same.

Athena August 27, 2015 (10:54 pm)

Is it just me or is the smoke blowing back this way? I can’t sleep, it’s so strong smelling.

WSB August 27, 2015 (11:12 pm)

Athena, I’ve seen/heard a few people remarking about that. No fire calls anywhere in the area so maybe it’s the wind.

TBag August 27, 2015 (11:38 pm)

Thank you WSB! So good to know the smoke is not from a house on fire here. So good to know now why I have a headache, face pain, stuffy swollen sinuses, itchy eyes and throat. Closing all windows and drinking loads of water seems to help. Goodnight. Sweet Smoke-Free Dreams…

Sorry, comment time is over.