Active Weather
No severe weather or excessive rainfall risk area is drawn over Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, or Washington today. Neither the Storm Prediction Center nor the Weather Prediction Center places any part of the region inside a named risk area.
Fire weather rather than storm weather is what shapes the day here. Dry conditions and afternoon wind are what move the fire lines described below, and both are ordinary for early September in this region.
Infrastructure
Washington has three large fires in the National Interagency Fire Center's September 1 situation report. The Sinlahekin fire stands at 166,330 acres and 38 percent containment, Little Giant at 170,784 acres and 49 percent, and Three Queens at 9,349 acres and 8 percent.
Oregon has seven. Big Grass is the largest at 578,637 acres and 94 percent containment, followed by Rowe Creek Complex at 373,927 acres and 96 percent, Grasshopper at 93,972 acres and 83 percent, and Hagen at 61,305 acres and 53 percent. Three remain lightly contained: Paradise at 9,593 acres and 22 percent, McCully at 13,150 acres and 4 percent, and Austin at 12,610 acres and zero containment.
Idaho has two in the Great Basin area's report: Crooked at 9,054 acres and 21 percent containment, and Flint at 6,936 acres and 88 percent.
The Northwest and Great Basin geographic areas are both at preparedness level 4. Nationally the level is 5, its highest step, with 84 large uncontained fires. Year to date the country stands at 52,626 fires, 126 percent of the ten year average, and 8,265,751 acres, 163 percent of average.
In Alaska, a sequence of earthquakes has been running southwest of Nikolski in the Fox Islands since September 1. The United States Geological Survey recorded a magnitude 5.3 and two magnitude 5.2 events along with several in the 4.6 to 4.9 range, the most recent early this morning. The National Tsunami Warning Center issued a tsunami information statement for the September 1 event, which is the message type used to say an earthquake occurred and no tsunami is expected. The United States Tsunami Warning Centers report no warning, advisory, watch, or threat in effect.
No grid emergencies or water system disruptions are reported across the four states.
Public Health
Oregon's Department of Environmental Quality issued an air quality advisory on August 31 covering Crook, Deschutes, Jefferson, eastern Marion, and southern Wasco counties, with intermittent smoke also expected in Baker and eastern Clackamas counties. That advisory was written to run through the afternoon of September 2, so its current status needs checking rather than assuming. Oregon Smoke Information and AirNow's fire and smoke map carry the live picture.
Smoke levels change through the day and can be worse in the morning as it settles into valleys. If you are in a smoky area, the practical steps are to keep windows closed while levels are high and to run a filter indoors if you have one. Your state or county health department is the authority on guidance for sensitive groups.
No public health advisories specific to the Northwest were confirmed this run. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Health Alert Network archive could not be read without JavaScript, so this brief makes no claim about national health advisories in either direction.
Watch Item
The Austin fire in Oregon at zero containment and McCully at 4 percent are the two with the least line around them. Containment is the figure that tells you how much of the perimeter is held, and a low number early in a fire's life is normal rather than alarming. What it does mean is that the situation near those two can change faster than near Big Grass at 94 percent.
For any household near an active perimeter, the item that matters is not the acreage but your county's evacuation notification system and whether your phone is registered with it. That is a five minute task and it is the difference between hearing early and hearing from a neighbour.
In Alaska, an earthquake sequence in the Aleutians is worth understanding rather than worrying over. Aleutian seismicity is constant, and events in the magnitude 4 to 5 range rarely produce anything beyond an information statement. The reason to note a sequence is that it is a reasonable prompt to check the standing items: know whether you live in a tsunami evacuation zone, know the route to high ground, and understand that in a near-shore event the ground shaking itself is the warning rather than any official message.
The season is turning. Fire season in this region typically runs until the first sustained autumn rain, and atmospheric river season follows it. Households west of the Cascades often go from smoke to flooding within a few weeks, which is an argument for keeping both sets of preparations current through the autumn.
Explore Today
Fire, tsunami, and flood exposure for your specific address.
Water, light, food, and a plan, packed for a household that may need to leave quickly.
Filtration, sealing, and what a house can do about smoke from outside.