Air quality advisory issued

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - Smoke from the fires burning in Southwest Alaska will degrade the air quality in much of Southcentral Alaska this weekend.

The Department of Environmental Conservation Division of Air Quality issued an advisory for Southcentral Alaska, Southwest Alaska and the Aleutian Islands, as well as Central and Eastern portions of the Interior that began Friday night and extends until Monday at 2 p.m.

The advisory noted that the air quality could fluctuate between good and unhealthy. There are 151 active fires burning across Alaska, according to the Alaska Fire Service — including the the Lime Complex of fires, which totals over half a million acres in Southwest Alaska.

“Smoke from the complex of fires just west of the Alaska Range in southwest Alaska that pushed out to the Gulf of Alaska has migrated up the Cook Inlet with surface wind shift this morning,” the advisory said. “Smoke will continue to migrate up the inlet into the Susitna Valley this evening. With the high pressure dominating for the next few days, the smoke will be trapped within the surface boundary layer of the atmosphere. That means during the morning hours, smoke concentrations will be higher, and visibility will be lower. During the afternoon hours smoke concentrations will ease and the smoke will mix into the higher altitudes. These conditions will continue until we get a change in the weather pattern and strong winds to help clean out the region.”

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