‘More of the same’: Boise air quality worsens as another hot, smoky weekend looms
Forecasters with the National Weather Service and Idaho Department of Environmental Quality issued an anticlimactic forecast for the weekend of July 17-18: more of the same hot, smoky conditions that have plagued Boise in recent weeks.
Korri Anderson, a meteorologist with the NWS’ Boise office, said in a phone interview that temperatures will reach a high of 96 on Friday before rising to 99 on Saturday and 103 on Sunday — nearly 10 degrees above average for this time of year. The Sunday high could climb even more if wildfire smoke clears. Smoke in the atmosphere helps mitigate temperature slightly, Anderson said.
Anderson warned that Sunday temperatures could rival the 106-degree record for the date.
“It’s definitely a hot enough air mass, it’s just whether or not smoke will filter it out to keep temperatures lower,” he said.
The hot weather will continue Monday and Tuesday, with highs of 100 and even potential thunderstorms, which Anderson said could spark wildfires in the Treasure Valley.
So far, Southwest Idaho has largely been unscathed when it comes to fires, but smoke from around the region has settled into the Treasure Valley. According to Michael Toole, airshed coordinator for Idaho DEQ, the air quality around Boise has mostly been in the “moderate” category for the past several days, occasionally rising into the next category, “unhealthy for sensitive groups.”
Toole said forecasts show smoke levels dropping slightly, but they can’t say with much certainty. Even if smoke levels do drop, the Treasure Valley likely will remain in the “moderate” category through the weekend.
“We’re just surrounded by fires,” Toole said, noting that smoke is coming from the Bootleg Fire in south-central Oregon, several fires in Northern California and blazes in north-central Idaho.
According to InciWeb, the Bootleg Fire now exceeds 227,000 acres and is only 7% contained. The Dixie-Jumbo Fires well north of Boise, in the Payette National Forest, stand at more than 20,000 acres, while the Snake River Complex — Idaho’s largest fire — has surpassed 100,000 acres. That complex is burning for miles along the river at the Idaho-Oregon-Washington border.
This story was originally published July 15, 2021 at 1:37 PM.
