August 20, 2018

Summer in the Pacific Northwest Is a Smoky, Hazy Mess Right Now

Better get used to it.

Thick smoke rises from the Maple Fire, obscuring the Olympic Mountains on August 8, 2018.Paul Christian Gordon/ZUMA

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

Firefighters are continuing to tackle huge blazes across British Columbia and the American West—as of Friday, 16 large fires and many more small fires were burning across Washington and Oregon. Heavy smoke blankets cities from Oregon to Colorado, and in Seattle, authorities have advised even healthy adults to stay indoors. Schools and sports teams have been urged to postpone outdoor activities, and flights have been delayed across the Pacific Northwest.

Portland Public Schools suspended all outdoor sports practices Monday, while in Seattle residents reported waking to a blood-red sun. Thick smoke in Denver also prompted air quality warnings, while air quality dropped from “very unhealthy” to “hazardous” in Spokane.

After two consecutive years of severe smoke in the Pacific Northwest, experts warn that smoky summers could continue in the American West, as climate conditions lead to larger and more destructive wildfires. 

Here are some images and reactions from residents in the region:

Last year, researchers from Colorado State University and the University of Houston found that wildfires may be responsible for thousands of deaths annually due to the tiny pollution particles, known as PM2.5, that the fires release into the atmosphere. Jeffrey Pierce, a professor of atmospheric science at Colorado State University, estimated that between 5,000 and 25,000 people in the United States may currently die each year from PM2.5 caused by wildfires in the US and Canada. Children, seniors, and those with heart or lung diseases are especially at risk for the coughing, headaches, shortness of breath, and chest pain brought on by inhaling contaminated air.

Public health experts advise this group and others to protect themselves from wildfire smoke as they would from other air pollutants: by keeping windows and doors closed, running air conditioners, and not relying on paper dust masks, which have been proven insufficient, for protection.

https://twitter.com/Josh_Kampa/status/1031365757857218560

WE'LL BE BLUNT.

We have a considerable $390,000 gap in our online fundraising budget that we have to close by June 30. There is no wiggle room, we've already cut everything we can, and we urgently need more readers to pitch in—especially from this specific blurb you're reading right now.

We'll also be quite transparent and level-headed with you about this.

In "News Never Pays," our fearless CEO, Monika Bauerlein, connects the dots on several concerning media trends that, taken together, expose the fallacy behind the tragic state of journalism right now: That the marketplace will take care of providing the free and independent press citizens in a democracy need, and the Next New Thing to invest millions in will fix the problem. Bottom line: Journalism that serves the people needs the support of the people. That's the Next New Thing.

And it's what MoJo and our community of readers have been doing for 47 years now.

But staying afloat is harder than ever.

In "This Is Not a Crisis. It's The New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, why this moment is particularly urgent, and how we can best communicate that without screaming OMG PLEASE HELP over and over. We also touch on our history and how our nonprofit model makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there: Letting us go deep, focus on underreported beats, and bring unique perspectives to the day's news.

You're here for reporting like that, not fundraising, but one cannot exist without the other, and it's vitally important that we hit our intimidating $390,000 number in online donations by June 30.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. It's going to be a nail-biter, and we really need to see donations from this specific ask coming in strong if we're going to get there.

payment methods

WE'LL BE BLUNT.

We have a considerable $390,000 gap in our online fundraising budget that we have to close by June 30. There is no wiggle room, we've already cut everything we can, and we urgently need more readers to pitch in—especially from this specific blurb you're reading right now.

We'll also be quite transparent and level-headed with you about this.

In "News Never Pays," our fearless CEO, Monika Bauerlein, connects the dots on several concerning media trends that, taken together, expose the fallacy behind the tragic state of journalism right now: That the marketplace will take care of providing the free and independent press citizens in a democracy need, and the Next New Thing to invest millions in will fix the problem. Bottom line: Journalism that serves the people needs the support of the people. That's the Next New Thing.

And it's what MoJo and our community of readers have been doing for 47 years now.

But staying afloat is harder than ever.

In "This Is Not a Crisis. It's The New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, why this moment is particularly urgent, and how we can best communicate that without screaming OMG PLEASE HELP over and over. We also touch on our history and how our nonprofit model makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there: Letting us go deep, focus on underreported beats, and bring unique perspectives to the day's news.

You're here for reporting like that, not fundraising, but one cannot exist without the other, and it's vitally important that we hit our intimidating $390,000 number in online donations by June 30.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. It's going to be a nail-biter, and we really need to see donations from this specific ask coming in strong if we're going to get there.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate