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The Pacific Northwest air, clogged with smoke from multiple wildfires burning west of the Cascade Range in Washington state, was among the worst in the world on Wednesday.
The air quality in Seattle was ranked worst worldwide as of 5 p.m. PST, according to IQAir, a Swiss air quality technology company that monitors real-time air quality. Portland, Oregon, and Vancouver, British Columbia, also ranked among the 10 worst locations for much of Wednesday, alongside cities in Pakistan, China and India.
“We’re currently seeing pretty bad air quality across the Greater Seattle Metro into the Cascade foothills,” Dev McMillian, a National Weather Service meteorologist, told USA TODAY. “There’s widespread smoke that we’ve been seeing now for quite some time.”
The weather service and the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency both warned residents in the Seattle area of diminished air quality due to wildfire smoke that is forecast to remain problematic into Friday. The agencies advised people to limit outdoor exposure and keep indoor air clean by closing windows and doors.
Multiple cities in Oregon, including the Portland metropolitan areaand south to Eugene, were also contending with air quality in the unhealthy to unhealthy for sensitive groups range, according to IQAir.
Nine fires were burning in Washington state and Oregon before the NWS issued a red flag warning for critical fire conditions last weekend. The Nakia Creek Fire in southwest Washington exploded in size on Sunday, engulfing the region with smoky air.
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Unhealthy air quality and exposure to wildfire smoke puts sensitive groups at risk, including outdoor workers, pregnant people, people with heart and lung disease and those over the ages of 65 or under the age of 18, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
As poor air quality persists, Seattle Public Schools issued recommendations for students to stay indoors and to limit outdoor activity.
Conditions are expected to improve late Thursday due to rainfall and cooler temperatures, McMillian said.
“We’re gonna see a first decent shot of rain since early June this year and much cooler temperatures,” McMillian said. “We’re gonna see values, I believe, on Friday, around 60 before falling to the 50s for the remainder of the weekend.”
Contributing: The Associated Press
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