Tri-Cities air clears of smoke. But for how long?

The air quality in the Tri-Cities was rated as good on Monday, recovering from air so choked with smoke that it had been rated as very unhealthy the previous five days.

But the Washington state Department of Ecology is not confident the clean air will last.

“Existing fires are projected to keep puffing out smoke,” said Ranil Dhammapala of the Washington state Department of Ecology on the Washington Washington Smoke Information blog. “Conditions are expected to worsen mid-week as another ridge builds.”

State smoke forecasts show some deterioration of air in the Tri-Cities Wednesday through Sunday, with the Tri-Cities right on the edge of areas forecast to get smoke from fires east of Yakima, including the Schneider Springs Fire. That fire about 18 miles northwest of Naches had burned 18,800 acres as of Monday morning.

However, the National Weather Service forecast does not show any smoky days or nights in the Tri-Cities this week other than some areas of smoke late Monday night into early Tuesday morning.

The air quality alert for the Tri-Cities, in effect since last Thursday, expired Monday morning.

Cooler temps

The Tri-Cities will get a break from the heat this week as a cold front moves into Eastern Washington.

A high of 97 forecast for Monday will make it by far the hottest day of the work week.

The high could fall to 81 on Tuesday, then gradually climb up to 90 on Friday. Weekend highs could be in the upper 80s, according to the early forecast of the weather service.

Overnight lows which have been in the 70s in recent days should fall into the 60s all week, with the overnight low as cool as 60 on Wednesday night.

Normal average highs for the Tri-Cities in July are about 90 degrees and normal lows are just below 60, according to data from the weather service.

July heat records

The cooler weather this week will be a break from a July that was much hotter than usual in Eastern Washington.

Temperatures recorded at the Hanford Meteorology Station about 25 miles northwest of Richland showed July to be the hottest month on record since the nuclear reservation began keeping daily weather records in the mid 1940s.

Temperatures averaged 5 degrees above the normal of 78.2 at an average of 83.2 degrees. Previously, the hottest month at Hanford was July 2014, with an average temperature of 82.8.

Only one day in July failed to reach 90, and 16 days had temperatures of 100 or more, compared to a normal of eight days in July.

In Kennewick, which has daily temperature records mostly complete back to the 1890s, July 2021 was the third warmest on record. July 1906 was the warmest.