Here’s what wildfire smoke has done to Bellingham’s air quality
Bellingham and Whatcom County air quality remains among the best in the nation, despite several recent summers with periods of smoky skies, a new report said.
But the Whatcom County area also received an “F” grade for 24-hour particle pollution in the American Lung Association’s 22nd annual “State of the Air” report.
For its report, the American Lung Association gathered data from air-quality monitoring stations nationwide, including those in Whatcom County operated by the Northwest Clean Air Agency.
“As you recall from the wildfire smoke we experienced in 2017 and 2018, there were some very smoky days. As a result, all of the counties in Washington, including ours, score poorly on the daily averages,” said Mark Buford, executive director of the Northwest Clean Air Agency.
“The silver lining is that even with those bad days of wildfire smoke, we score well on an annual average. These low grades really are an issue of periodic wildfire smoke,” Buford said in an emailed statement.
Without the wildfire smoke, Whatcom County would have received an “A” grade, he said.
Data covered the three years from 2017-2019 as Whatcom County residents experienced hot summers with skies darkened by wildfire smoke from California, British Columbia and other regions.
Results released Wednesday, April 21, show Bellingham was tied with Elmira-Corning, N.Y., and Sioux Falls, S.D., for seventh nationally among the top 25 U.S. cities with the best air.
But that was tempered with data showing that Whatcom County had six “orange” days and three “red” days where particulates in smoke created a health hazard.
Whatcom County saw several days with smoky skies in late summer 2020, so the trend is likely to continue in subsequent reports.
Smoky skies also contributed to Whatcom County’s “B” grade for ozone pollution, the Northwest Clean Air Agency said.
Wildfire smoke contributed to two days of higher-than-usual ozone readings in 2018, the agency said.
