Unhealthy smoky air blankets Northwest
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Vehicles in eastbound traffic on Interstate 90 drive through smoke-filled air today at Snoqualmie Pass in Washington state. Public-health officials continued to warn of unhealthy air across many parts of the Pacific Northwest as wildfires sent thick smoke across the region, and the National Weather Service issued an air quality alert for much of Central and Eastern Washington and northern Idaho through today.
SEATTLE >> Unhealthy smoky air has continued to blanket Seattle, Portland, Oregon and the region.
The National Weather Service says Washington state had the worst air quality in the country today.
In the Washington cities of Chelan and Wenatchee the air quality today reached the hazardous level, prompting Chelan County officials to distribute masks.
The Puget Sound Clean Air Agency said today that the smoke had reached levels that were unhealthy for everyone in Seattle and throughout the sound.
The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality also said today that the air quality in the cities of Portland and Medford was unhealthy.
The weather service says cleaner air will begin pushing onshore in the western part of Washington and Oregon tonight.
The weather service says an air quality alert for eastern Washington and northern Idaho has been extended into Friday morning.
