During the last two months, many in the greater Wenatchee Valley have incorporated into their mornings a new ritual: checking their local Air Quality Index (AQI). Of course, the Valley, including Leavenworth, Plain, Peshastin and Dryden, is no stranger to being shrouded in a veil of smoke - at times. The length and lateness of this latest smoke season, however, has been extraordinary and unprecedented. Almost the whole of the first quarter at CHS has been affected.
For much of the summer, the Pacific Northwest benefited – in terms of wildfires and wildfire smoke – from a cool, wet spring with delayed mountain snowmelt. Skies were clear. Then, during thunderstorms on August 11th, above Lake Wenatchee, the White River and Irving Peak fires were ignited by lighting. A month later, the human-caused Minnow Ridge and Bolt Creek fires were started, the former just a dozen miles from the first two; the latter off Highway 2 near Skykomish.
The smoke from these fires was at first localized, producing only the occasional dark orange panorama in the sky throughout the Valley. These episodes only lasted 24-36 hours as easterly winds regularly returned to clear the air. By late August, the Lake Wenatchee fires, aided by westerly winds, began to turn the sun and moon into dim orbs just about every day, as far away as Wenatchee and beyond.
In early September, a warm stable air mass caused by a high-pressure system centered in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of Washington, settled over the region. Unseasonably warm temperatures and light winds were the result. According to Matthew Dehr, lead wildland fire meteorologist for the state of Washington and author on the Washington Smoke Blog, “[w]hen we get patterns that have very little wind associated with them, daily wind patterns are dictated by terrain. In the afternoons, air heated along the mountain slopes tends to rise, yielding upslope winds. At night, the air more rapidly cools in the mountains and drains out through the valleys, yielding downslope winds. These downslope winds at night are the primary driver for bringing low level smoke into . . . the Wenatchee Valley.”
Dehr continued to explain on the Smoke Blog, which is a partnership between state, county, and federal agencies, and Tribes to coordinate and share information for Washington communities affected by wildfire smoke, that “with very little wind outside of the daily upslope/downslope pattern, smoke can very easily get trapped in valleys and drainages. We are in the midst of the driest and warmest October since at least 1987. So this pattern is decidedly not normal. Usually by this time in October we’re thinking about rain, Halloween, and all things fall. We’re certainly not discussing wildfire smoke.”
The fact that wildfire smoke, and the resulting curtain of dirty orange haze it spread across the sky, lingered for nearly two months led to frustrations in the Valley’s communities. Legions of outdoor activities, events, and sports were postponed or cancelled. At CHS, just a couple of examples include the cross-country team being forced to cancel both of its home races and hold many practices indoors or not at all; the homecoming football game was not played on homecoming weekend; soccer games were moved to different venues.
CHS mathematics teacher and cross-country coach, Dayle Massey, summed it up well, if not bluntly: “I hate the smoke! It’s terrible. It's completely messed up our cross-country season and all the sports, except for volleyball. It's not good for you even if you are not in a sport. It just ruins everything outside. So, I can’t wait until it rains and hopefully goes away.” Senior Tonio Aurilio concurred with Massey and added that he felt “bad, in particular, for people with weak lungs.” Aurilio also noted that it was “a pity not to be able to fully enjoy such an unusually warm fall.”
In an interview, National Forest Service Public Information Officer Heather Appelhoff discussed prolonged episodes of smoke as not being entirely unusual for North Central Washington: “[p]art of being a fire-adapted community also includes being smoke adapted. I know that that doesn't really quell any of the frustration, but part of living in a fire prone area is that we will have this smoke.”
Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest Public Affairs Officer Victoria Wilkins was of the same mind: “This situation is not an easy one, we didn't get here overnight. Large, long-duration fires are becoming more common throughout the West, and they’re here to stay. We know that even without any structure losses, the smoke and closures are annoying and impact summer plans. But there is no structure and no summer vacation plan that is worth a firefighter’s life.”
Dher explained that “[t]he unfortunate reality of these fires burning in thick timber in difficult terrain is that firefighting strategies can only hope to contain the spread, it is up to mother nature to put the fire out for good. The water that can be delivered by plane is simply insufficient to extinguish such large fires without help from the weather, including cooler temperatures, cloud cover, and rainfall.” Fortunately, the extended days of rains and snow, required to put out the remote fires above Lake Wenatchee that are responsible for most of the smoke in the Wenatchee Valley and have burned almost 20,000 acres, are here. AQIs, which for days on end have registered in the “very unhealthy” to “hazardous” range in Plain and “unhealthy” to “unhealthy for sensitive groups” in Leavenworth, Peshastin, and Dryden are now in the “moderate” to good” range.
As the sepia-colored skies make way for clear, if not cloud covered vistas, it is worth remembering that the smokey conditions that pervaded late summer and early fall have been predicted by climate researchers. Rising temperatures, they have counseled, will lead to more and more fires that burn longer and with greater intensity. A commonly proposed solution is to lower the risk of ordinary wildfires expanding to become long-lasting infernos. The federal government and the state of Washington have been funding forest management techniques, including prescribed burns to help reduce large scale fires. Unfortunately, that sometimes itself means more smoke. There is no simple solution.
Perhaps looking for the silver linings during, all but certain, future smoke episodes may be the best option. Senior Aiden Tuttle provided and good example of just that as he cheerfully explained that he “enjoyed the rest when cross-country practice was cancelled” and the “comedy of indoor practices.”
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