(Tonight’s sunset – photo by Kanit Cottrell)
8:18 PM: After a few night of smoke mostly to the west, from California wildfires, a new arrival tonight before sunset – smoke from fires in Eastern Washington. If you have a view to the east, it was visible over the Cascades late in the day:
(Photo tweeted by @kevinfreitas)
So much smoke has moved in so quickly that the King County Sheriff’s Office says it’s been swamped with 911 calls from people thinking there’s something on fire nearby (keep in mind, KCSO serves eastern rural King County too). Meantime, Gov. Inslee has declared a state of emergency. You can see wildfire locations in our state, and elsewhere, on this map.
9:57 PM: As commenters note, there are fires in the South Sound too.
SR-167 @ SR-410 currently closed in both directions. Fire at 167 and power lines down at 410. Crews on scene and more on the way. Sumner PD is handling evacuations where necessary. @wsdot_tacoma
Avoid the area please!! pic.twitter.com/4fpROGLEAG— Trooper Ryan Burke (@wspd1pio) September 8, 2020
And it’s still breezy enough here that we have fire danger too – there’s a “brush fire” call right now on Delridge south of Thistle. (Update: That call closed quickly.)
11:29 PM: Here’s a visualization showing what’s in the air:
Thanks to Jim Edwards for the flashlight-beam view.
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