Smoke over Spokane County could accumulate to Hazardous levels on the Air Quality Index by Tuesday, according to the Spokane Regional Clean Air Agency's forecast, and the reason has less to do with new fire growth than with the weather sitting on top of the region.
A high-pressure ridge is building over the Pacific Northwest with light winds expected Monday and Tuesday. That combination removes the mechanism that normally clears smoke out of the Spokane basin. North-northwest flow is drawing in smoke from fires in Washington and British Columbia, and once it arrives, there is nothing to move it along.
