Worst air quality in Washington state? Find it in Seattle.

For those of us here in Washington state, the 4th of July was very memorable for many reasons. Not the least of which is that Seattle's air quality was judged the third worst in the nation on July 5th. According to king5.com,
“As of 6:45 a.m. Friday, Seattle ranked as the third-worst air quality of any major U.S. city, behind only Detroit and Los Angeles. The poor air quality was due to lingering smoke from fireworks on the Fourth of July, according to KING 5 Senior Meteorologist Rich Marriott.” 

Those of us in Eastern Washington should not gloat because we had our own problems on July 5th. With several wildfires now including the one near the Beehive Reservoir near Mission Ridge in Wenatchee. (now contained)

To me it’s almost hard to believe that shooting off some fireworks would tip the scales on air quality in the Seattle area but apparently, that's just how close the tipping point is for Seattle's air quality. 

According to king5.com,
“Marriott said the air was most unhealthy around 1 a.m. Friday in most areas, which was due to all the smoke from the fireworks going off. He said that the smoke accumulated near the ground due to warmer air above, and colder air at the surface.” 

Now add the heat wave that we're experiencing now both on the east side and west side of the mountains. And we're in for some big fun. 

Welcome to summer, I’m thankful to be indoors with filtered air and air conditioning. 

Seattle's air quality among worst in US ahead of heat advisory | king5.com
Heat Advisory issued for western Washington over holiday weekend | king5.com
Chelan County Issues Urgent Level 3 Fire Evacuation Notice (kpq.com)