Smoke and heat likely to linger in Tri-Cities into next week

The haze hanging over Ayleen Wood’s Richland home has kept her inside, rather than walking to the bus stop to head to work.

“The smoke is really thick and it feels like you have bronchitis,” she said. “My neighbor said the same thing. To any former smoker or anyone with weak lungs, it’s really harsh to go outside.”

The smoky haze that blew in Tuesday and Wednesday — from more than a dozen British Columbia wildfires, along with fires in north-central Washington and Montana — remained stuck in the Tri-Cities.

The National Weather Service issued an air quality alert Wednesday for southeastern Washington. It will stay in affect until Saturday at noon.

The Benton Clean Air Agency’s monitoring stations continued to report the smoke and dust levels rising to unhealthy levels Thursday.

The rating is based on the Washington Air Quality Advisory, an index developed by the state Department of Ecology. It ranges from zero to 500. Readings at the Kennewick monitoring station hung just above the 150 level for most of the day, pushing it into the unhealthy zone.

Ecology advises people to limit the amount of time they spend outside. People with lung and heart disease, diabetes or with respiratory infections should stay inside.

The agency offers the same advice for infants, children and the elderly.

While many people complained of coughs and dry throats with some headaches, the smoke hasn’t caused much of an uptick in patients going to Kadlec Regional Medical Center’s emergency room, said hospital spokesman Jim Hall.

Most of the additional patients are complaining about breathing problems.

A total of four people used Trios Health services because of the smoke, said spokeswoman Lisa Teske. They were suffering from nose bleeds, coughing and difficulty breathing.

The patients were normally healthy people who spent a little bit too much time outside, she said. Other people most at risk seem to be staying away from the smoke.

While the advisory might end on Saturday, it doesn’t appear to be the end of the smoke in the region. The National Weather Service is predicting the haze to hang around through next week.

Ecology officials explained the winds are expected to pick up across the state on Friday, but perhaps not enough to move the smoke entirely out.

Tri-City residents should also expect the triple-digit temperatures to continue for at least the near future. The smoke and haze does have some benefit for people looking for relief from the heat, but not much.

The National Weather Service reports the pollution will cut a few degrees off, but forecasts predict temperatures exceeding 100 degrees until the middle of next week.

A heat advisory is in place until 8 p.m. Friday. The temperatures can create hazards for people spending a long time outside. Wear lightweight, loose clothing and drink plenty of water.

Temperatures reached triple digits Thursday across the Northwest. Portland residents expected to endure a 106-degree day Thursday, which is a degree short of the city’s record high.

Medford sweltered through a 112-degree day on Wednesday, and Seattle basked in a relatively cool 91 degrees Thursday.

The National Weather Service tweeted: “Take home message for everyone else: It could be worse.”

The heat caused Major League Soccer to adjust the start of Sunday’s match between the Portland Timbers and Los Angeles Galaxy to 11 a.m. and slowed Portand’s light trail because extreme heat can cause overhead copper wires to snag and make rails develop kinks that could lead to trains derailing.

This story was originally published August 3, 2017 at 6:56 PM with the headline "Smoke and heat likely to linger in Tri-Cities into next week."