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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883
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Weather works its magic

Clear skies and mild temperatures make for great strolling weather during the noon hour Wednesday in Riverfront Park. Walkers and the park's vivid fall foliage are reflected in the breezeway windows of the Spokane Convention Center. (Dan Pelle / The Spokesman-Review)
By Mike Prager mikeprager15@gmail.com(509) 459-5454
Clear skies and mild temperatures make for great strolling weather during the noon hour Wednesday in Riverfront Park. Walkers and the park's vivid fall foliage are reflected in the breezeway windows of the Spokane Convention Center. (Dan Pelle / The Spokesman-Review)

After a long, hot summer plagued by smoky wildfires, Wednesday brought a breath of fresh air to the Inland Northwest – literally.

Air quality took a dramatic turn for the better under crisp blue skies. At the same time, lingering sunshine and cool nights have helped the fall foliage develop color as brilliant as the day.

A cool front that swept over the Inland Northwest on Tuesday set the stage for Wednesday’s radiance. Winds up to 20 mph cleared the Spokane and Coeur d’Alene areas of much of the dust and smoke that had hung near the ground for several days.

“It flushed all that stuff out,” said Rocco Pelatti, forecaster for the National Weather Service in Spokane.

Air quality that measured well into the “moderate” range (51 to 100) on Tuesday had improved by Wednesday to one of the cleaner air readings typically seen in the region.

Spokane’s air quality index stood at 20 around noon. On Tuesday, the index peaked at 71 under a temperature inversion in which colder air lies close the ground, trapping pollutants in the cold layer.

“Good” air quality runs from 0 to 50 on the government’s standard index.

Coeur d’Alene and Post Falls on Wednesday had air quality index readings that were slightly higher. Both reported air quality indexes in the low 30s.

“It’s a fairly clear day,” said Ron Edgar, chief of technical services for the Spokane County Air Pollution Control Authority. “We don’t have rain. We don’t have fog and everything is nice and clear.”

Edgar said the light wind that continued on Wednesday helped prevent any new pollution from building up in the lower levels of the atmosphere.

The main sources were from wood stoves, dust from parking lots and exhaust from diesel engines.

Smoke that invaded the area from wildfires and field burning last summer is gone, and agricultural dust has been dampened by rainfall, Edgar said.

“We had that rain earlier and it’s kept the dust down,” he said.

The worst air quality day in recent months came on Aug. 29 when Spokane’s air index hit 74 during a moderate dust storm, which came after weeks of hot, dry weather across the region. That put the city’s air quality in the moderate range, but it was well below the threshold of 100 for air that is considered unhealthy for sensitive individuals.

Forecasters said more sunny weather may be on the way this weekend. Thursday and Friday are expected to be mostly cloudy. Highs are forecasted in the mid-50s with lows at night in the lower to mid-30s.

The next chance of rain arrives on Sunday night, followed by slightly cooler temperatures through Halloween, when trick-or-treaters can expect temperatures around 40.