National Weather Service issues heat advisory with hot weather headed toward Whatcom County
Temperatures are expected to spike Thursday, prompting a heat advisory along with warnings of wildfire smoke and lower air quality.
National Weather Service meteorologists added a heat advisory to warnings of wildfire smoke over Bellingham and Whatcom County for Thursday and Friday.
“Hot conditions with temperatures in the upper 80s to low 90s are expected. This will pose a moderate to isolated major risk of heat-related illness,” the weather service advisory said.
Overnight lows in the 60s are expected, according to the online forecast.
Seattle weather service meteorologist Reid Wolcott said the smoke could keep temperatures cooler than predicted during the day and warmer at night.
“At this time the majority of smoke is still expected to be elevated from the surface. In any case, this smoke/haze makes the temperature forecast for Thursday and Thursday night complex. Daytime smoke could result in temperatures slightly lower than currently in the official forecast, while overnight smoke could keep temperatures up slightly. The current forecast has widespread moderate/orange levels of Heat Risk with isolated areas of major/red Heat Risk in favored areas such as urban heat islands and the mountain valleys. There will also be a slight chance of a shower/thunderstorm over the far northern Cascades on Thursday,” Wolcott said in the weather service’s online forecast discussion.
Officials at the Northwest Clean Air Agency weren’t expecting severe air quality alerts.
“Some smoke from Eastern Washington and British Columbia wildfires will impact more interior locations like Bellingham, Mount Vernon, and Columbia Valley (Kendall),” the agency said on its social media.
“Air quality is only expected to degrade slightly to moderate. Coastal areas, including Oak Harbor and Anacortes, will have conditions varying at times between good and moderate,” the agency said.
This story was originally published August 7, 2024 at 4:35 PM.
