It will take a few days for wildfire smoke to dissipate

EVERETT — Jack Crowther puffed on a cigarette Tuesday as he waited for a bus on Evergreen Way, undaunted by wildfire smoke that has shrouded much of the region.

“It irritated my eyes a bit,” the 50-year-old Everett electrician said. “I’m a smoker, so it’s not irritating anything else. I should quit, but why bother now.”

The worst part of the haze: “It’s kind of a bummer because it’s eating my summer away by creating a barrier between the sun and us. I was looking forward to some sun rays today,” he said.

Smoke from hundreds of Northwest wildfires persists. Meteorologists are sticking by their earlier forecast that smoke will gradually clear starting late Wednesday, but it will take a couple of days for it to fully dissipate.

Meantime, the air remains unhealthy.

Residents in Snohomish, King, Pierce and Kitsap counties should continue to stay indoors as much as possible, the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency said. Air quality is likely to remain unhealthy, even for fit adults, until well into Thursday.

“Current air quality readings in western Washington range from unhealthy to very unhealthy,” the National Weather Service said Wednesday morning. “This will continue through Thursday due to smoke from wildfires across the region. Winds will shift to an onshore, westerly direction, later this afternoon,” pushing the smoke away. But the air qon’t clear quickly.

“There is a large amount of smoke out over the Pacific Ocean that will then be pushed through the region. Westerly winds will continue Thursday and gradually bring improved air quality through the day on Thursday,” said the weather service. An air quality alert has been extended and will be in effect for Western Washington until noon on Thursday.

Starting Sunday, an offshore flow of air sucked smoke from hundreds of Washington and British Columbia wildfires to the inland waters of Washington. There was a similar inundation of hazardous smoke around the Puget Sound region last week. So it’s getting kind of old. People along Evergreen Way soldiered on through the smog Tuesday.

“The roads are quiet,” said General Car Wash general manager Ben Amundson. “People are aren’t out as much or doing things they normally would.”

There was no wait in the car wash line at noon, but some ash-covered cars had already been there, he said.

The station is a throwback to the days where drivers stay in their cars and let attendants fill ’er up.

“As soon as we’re pumping it, their window goes right up,” Amundson said. “They don’t want to breathe the smoke.”

Jennifer Zahn had masks at the ready in her car. She bought a 10-pack of the standard ones.

“We are trying to wear them when we go outside,” Zahn said. As of late, this has been to zip in and out of stores.

“Normally we’d be at a park. We’d be out riding bikes, out for a walk,” she said. “It’s definitely hard on us. We’re talking about leaving town for a couple days.”

She said her 4-year-old son, Jairus, is getting used to the masks.

“It tickles,” the boy said, giggling behind the mask that swallowed his small face.

Ray Law, of Everett, said he’s trying to keep put.

“It’s even bothering me. This is the first time and I’m 80 years old. My eyes are watering,” he said. “I am trying to stay out of it, but you still gotta go and get things done.”

In his case it was a dash to QFC: “I have to get myself some corn on the cob.”

He looked up at the gray sky.

“Usually in the Pacific Northwest we don’t say, ‘Come on rain,’ ” he said. “But this time we are.”

Andrea Brown: abrown@heraldnet.com; 425-339-3443. Twitter @reporterbrown.