Waking up to a fair bit of smoke in the upper atmosphere this morning.

Waking up to a fair bit of smoke in the upper atmosphere this morning.

Majority of this smoke is originating from the fires burning near the Kaska Dena First Nation of the ross river area of northern BC.

In the first image you’ll see the fire activity pushing into the bottom layer of the tropopause, which is a significant increase from the past few days.

These fires are burning in previously clearcut old growth forests, on 2nd and 3rd growth on the southern arctic tundra. These habitats can be acutely problematic in wildfire situations compared to old growth which can survive and actually benefit from wildfire (in many cases).

Second slide is our current AQI here on the island, which is quite low (lower = healthy), even compared to the mainland, so the smoke is generally staying in the upper atmosphere for now, thankfully. (Would be nice to have a few more sensors on the island!)

Previously mentioned heatwave is upon us, with afternoon temps pushing into the upper 80s, we are seeing some west wind pushing down the strait in the afternoons, which will cool us slightly and provide decent mixing, mostly keeping smoke confined to the upper atmosphere.

Weekend update will be posted tomorrow!

❤️

#wawx #wafire #waheat #wasmoke #southwhidbey #whidbeyisland #whidbeywx