Smoke here for the weekend

Sorry, folks. The smoke is here and it came to stay for the weekend – maybe longer. Like Cousin Eddie at Christmas.

Yesterday’s 24hr AQI data indicated unhealthy air quality throughout South-Central, Southeast, and East Idaho due to the presence of wildfire smoke. Moderate air quality was present in Southwest Idaho while much of Central and North Idaho were in the good category. Current air quality remains the same with widespread areas in the unhealthy category in the southern half of the state. Air quality forecasts across the state continue this trend through the weekend.

Waves of smoke are expected to continue to stream into southern Idaho from numerous large wildfires, mainly in northern and central California, at least through the weekend. Much of this smoke will remain aloft during the day allowing air quality to improve slightly each afternoon. However, expect a continued pattern of smoke settling to the surface as the sun sets resulting in degraded air quality through the night and into the morning.

The majority of the smoke impacts will be found south of the Salmon River with little to no smoke in the northern third of the state. The largest impacts will be found in the Snake River Plain and areas to the south with moderate to heavy smoke expected in these areas through at least Monday and likely even later into next week. 

NOAA VIIRS satellite imagery from August 20, 2020 showing a large plume of smoke from California wildfires streaming into southern Idaho.