Issued: August 24, 2017
Forecaster. R. Graw, USDA
Forest Service
Currently, there are15 large fires burning in Oregon, with the
Danner fire in southeast Oregon being the newest, as shown in figure below.
Figure 1. Current
Large Fires in Oregon
A high pressure system will start building over the state over
the next few days bring warmer and drier air into the state, with temperatures
reaching into the triple digits in Southwest Oregon and upper 90s elsewhere by
Sunday.
Tomorrow, haze will occur over much of the state in a swath from Southwestern Oregon to the Northeast portions of the state. At the surface, north winds, will keep the
Coast and Willamette Valley free of smoke throughout tomorrow. In Southwestern Oregon, northeast winds are
expected in the morning, bringing smoke from the Umpqua North Complex and High
Cascades Complex into the Rogue and Applegate Valleys, Brookings will experience
smoke from the Chetco Bar fire. Winds
will shift in Southwest Oregon later in the day, diminishing smoke concentrations but
probably not clearing the Rogue Valley. Areas of South Central Oregon such as Klamath Falls and Chiloquin can
expect to be smokey once again, as northwesterly winds are expected in the
morning and shifting to southwesterly later in the day. Bend and Sisters will continue to
experience bad air quality, with Sisters being particularly bad between
midnight and 11 a.m. due to nighttime drainage flows. The mountain communities south of the fires
such as Prospect and Crater Lake National Park will continue to experience
smoke as well.
The image below depicts the 24-hour average smoke
concentrations at the surface across the state tomorrow. The map is best interpreted in a relative
sense rather than absolute concentrations. Thus the darker shades of red indicate areas of heavier smoke. Pink indicates lighter smoke. The concentration of smoke during any given
hour can vary significantly from the daily average. Please refer to the Air Resource Advisor
Reports posted on this blog for more detailed smoke forecasts associated with
the fires.
Figure 2.
Model-Predicted 24-hour Average Smoke for Friday August 25, 2017
