Concerns over air quality, Red Flag Warning and critical fire weather conditions in Whatcom County mountains

WHATCOM COUNTY, Wash. — Officials with the Washington Department of Ecology (Ecology) report as of August 13, 2026, “Smoke is filtering into western WA.” Currently, according to Ecology, most smoke is in the upper atmosphere resulting in hazy skies and red sunrises and sunsets. Puget Sound Clean Air Agency’s ceilometer at Marysville (below) shows the smoke layer about 1500 meters (~4920 feet) above the surface.

The most noticeable smoke impacts will occur in the foothills, Cascades, the eastern portions of Skagit and Whatcom counties, and higher elevations. Smoke will also be present in the Olympics until tomorrow afternoon. While some daytime mixing may bring smoke down to the surface in the Puget Sound and push conditions into Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups for several hours, widespread poor air quality is not expected. Today’s pattern will continue into tomorrow as smoke drifting southwest mixes with a weak push of cleaner marine air. Onshore winds return Saturday morning to clear out any lingering haze or moderate surface impacts.

Washington State Department of Ecology (August 13, 2026)

Northwest Clean Air Agency has issued an Air Quality Alert for Skagit and Whatcom Counties through Saturday at 9am.

A Red Flag Warning is in effect until about 9pm on August 13, 2026, due to expected lightning and gusty outflow winds across specific areas (below), according to the National Weather Service (NWS).

NWS has also issued a Fire Weather Watch for the same areas from the afternoon of August 14, 2026, through the evening of August 14, 2026.

According to NWS, the affected locations include west slopes of the North Cascades generally above 1500 feet.

The thunderstorm area is expected to be isolated to scattered across the Cascades and Olympics, according to NWS. Developing storms are capable of producing gusty outflow winds between 20mph and 30mph.

According to NWS, scattered lightning with dry fuels can start fires, while outflow winds can cause wind shifts on existing fires, impacting fire spread direction and speed.

NWS defines a Red Flag Warning as critical fire weather conditions occurring or imminent, and a Fire Weather Watch as a potential for critical fire weather conditions to develop.

---

Whatcom News readers are encouraged to stay up to date with current weather alerts and forecasts and air quality readings for their specific Whatcom County locations along with tide tables via the Whatcom News Weather page.