News & Notices

As wildfire smoke continues to cloud our air, it’s important to know where to get reliable, accurate air quality data that corresponds to national, health-based standards. With the influx of air quality apps and various scales of calculation, you may be wondering where to turn. Spokane Regional Clean Air Agency (Spokane Clean Air) uses seven…

On Tuesday, August 17, 2021, winds unexpectedly shifted and quickly brought smoke from the Ford Corkscrew Fire into the Spokane area. Within an hour, air quality degraded from Moderate/Yellow to Unhealthy/Red. During this time, the peak hourly reading was 194 at the Augusta and Fiske monitoring site. Fortunately, the smoke impact was short-lived. The unhealthy…

SPOKANE, Wash – Based on current wildfires, smoke levels and weather patterns, an air quality alert is in effect for all counties east of the Cascades, announced the National Weather Service after coordination with state and local air quality agencies across the state. The alert will be in effect through 10 a.m., Monday. The local…

We typically don’t see wildfire smoke until mid-August, but wildfires began peppering the landscape in our region early. Compounding the start to fire season this year is a severe drought and record heat. Smoke from fires created unhealthy air in late July and early August. If you were caught off guard, you likely weren’t the…

Monday, August 2, 2021 –Saturday, July 31, 2021 and Sunday, August 1, 2021’s wildfire smoke caused exceedances of the 24-hour, health-based standard for fine particles (PM2.5) for the first time this year. Based on current smoke forecast models, air quality will likely continue to be unhealthy over the next few days, prompting the National Weather…

Spokane Clean Air uses seven air quality monitoring locations throughout Spokane County to determine the air quality for our region’s airshed. Thisnetwork of air quality monitoring stations enables us to notify the public when air quality is approaching unhealthful levels and to encourage clean air actions to help reduce air pollution. Included in the seven…

Based on the current smoke forecast models, air quality will likely worsen through the weekend as northeasterly surface winds transport additional wildfire smoke (PM2.5) from the north and east of our area and wildfire smoke begins to form a persistent pool east of the Cascades, according to the Spokane Regional Clean Air Agency (Spokane Clean…

Spokane experienced two exceedances of the health-based standard set by EPA for ground-level ozone pollution in July 2021. The exceedances were due to elevated levels of wildfire smoke in our region combined with hot, sunny days. Ground-level ozone exceedances are determined using the 8-hour maximum average of the pollutant to find if levels are above…