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Smoke & air quality

This page is not a live tracker. Conditions change hour to hour, so check the tools below for what the air is doing right now where you are.

As of August 7, 2026

Air quality is unhealthy across much of the Pacific Northwest. Portland has been rated Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups, and Seattle has seen smoky conditions worsen through the week. A pattern change is expected to bring rapid improvement to Seattle and Portland by Friday as cooler, cleaner air moves in, though smoke will stay dense closer to the fires themselves in eastern Washington and Oregon, and shifting winds could also spread existing fires further. Always check current conditions using the tools below rather than relying on this summary.

Sources: weather.com, OPB, KOMO News

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Live air quality snapshot

Automatically refreshed from the EPA's AirNow feed for a handful of representative Oregon and Washington cities. These are raw machine-read numbers, so no one has reviewed them. Conditions can change within an hour, so check the live tools above before making decisions.

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Check current air quality

Each card opens the source in a new tab.

Jump to your county's current AQI

Each link opens AirNow in a new tab, centered on the largest monitored community in that county. If your county isn't listed, pick the closest one or search your ZIP code on AirNow directly.

Washington

Oregon

Smoke map

A quick visual snapshot from today's automated data. For a detailed, real-time smoke map, use the link below.

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Open the live interactive smoke map (AirNow)The EPA's Fire and Smoke Map shows real-time smoke plumes and fire locations layered over current air quality readings. Opens in a new tab.fire.airnow.gov

Understanding the AQI scale

The Air Quality Index is a single number summarizing how polluted the air is right now. Tap to see what each range means.

  • 0 to 50: Good

    Air quality is satisfactory. No precautions needed.

  • 51 to 100: Moderate

    Acceptable for most people. Unusually sensitive people may want to limit long outdoor exertion.

  • 101 to 150: Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups

    Children, older adults, pregnant people, and anyone with heart or lung conditions should limit time outdoors.

  • 151 to 200: Unhealthy

    Everyone may start to feel effects. Sensitive groups will feel them more seriously.

  • 201 to 300: Very Unhealthy

    A health alert. Everyone should avoid outdoor activity.

  • 301 and above: Hazardous

    Emergency conditions. Everyone is at risk. Stay indoors, or leave the area if you can.

Sources: EPA AirNow, Oregon DEQ

Protecting yourself and your family

  • Stay indoors with windows and doors closed when the AQI is unhealthy or worse.
  • Create a clean room. Pick one room, keep it sealed, and run a portable HEPA air cleaner. If you don't have a proper air purifier, a box fan with a MERV-13 or better filter taped to the intake works surprisingly well.
  • Set your home HVAC and your car's air system to recirculate rather than pulling in outside air.
  • Avoid outdoor exertion. Reschedule exercise indoors.
  • Wear a properly fitted N95 or P100 respirator if you have to be outside for any length of time. Cloth and surgical masks don't filter smoke particles.
  • Keep pets indoors too. Smoke affects them the same way it affects you.
  • People with asthma, COPD, or heart disease, along with older adults, children, and pregnant people, should take extra precaution, and consider leaving the area if air quality stays hazardous for an extended period.
  • Watch for symptoms: coughing, wheezing, chest tightness, shortness of breath, or unusual fatigue. Seek medical attention if they're severe.

What to do when air is unhealthy

A step-by-step checklist for families and pets, for when the AQI hits Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups (101) or higher.

Step 1: In the first few minutes

  • Bring everyone inside, including kids playing outdoors and anyone working in the yard.
  • Close all windows and doors, and shut the fireplace damper.
  • Switch the furnace, AC, or heat pump to recirculate, and put a fresh MERV-13 filter in if you have one.
  • Turn off anything that adds smoke or particles indoors: candles, gas stoves, wood stoves, incense, and vacuuming without a HEPA filter.

Step 2: Set up one clean room

  • Pick the room your family can share comfortably, ideally a bedroom with few windows.
  • Run a HEPA air purifier sized for that room, or build a box-fan filter by taping a MERV-13 furnace filter to the back of a box fan.
  • Keep the door closed and use a rolled towel along the bottom gap.
  • Plan on sleeping in there while the air stays unhealthy.

Step 3: Look after the people most at risk

  • Check on kids, older adults, pregnant family members, and anyone with asthma, COPD, or heart disease.
  • Make sure inhalers and other rescue medications are refilled and within reach, not packed away.
  • Cancel outdoor sports, recess, and exercise. Move activity indoors or postpone it.
  • If someone has to go out, fit them with an N95 or P100. Respirators don't seal on young children, so the answer for kids is staying inside rather than masking up.
  • Watch for coughing, wheezing, chest tightness, shortness of breath, dizziness, or unusual tiredness. Call a doctor for anything persistent, and call 911 for severe breathing trouble or chest pain.

Step 4: Take care of pets and animals

  • Bring dogs, cats, and small animals indoors, and keep birds inside since their lungs are especially sensitive.
  • Keep walks short and skip the dog park, fetch, and runs. A quick bathroom break is enough on a bad air day.
  • Give pets access to the clean room and plenty of fresh water.
  • Watch for their version of the same symptoms: coughing, gagging, laboring to breathe, red or watery eyes, refusing food, or acting unusually tired. Call your vet if you see them.
  • For horses and livestock you can't bring inside, cut back on exercise, keep water close by, and soak dusty hay so they aren't breathing more particles.
  • Keep carriers, leashes, and a few days of pet food ready in case the smoke turns into an evacuation.

Step 5: If it stays bad or gets worse

  • Recheck the AQI a few times a day. Smoke can shift quickly with the wind.
  • If your home can't hold clean air, or the AQI stays at Very Unhealthy or Hazardous for days, consider staying with someone outside the smoke or asking your county about a clean air shelter.
  • Keep phones charged and stay signed up for local alerts in case the fire situation changes too.

Where to go next

For the fire situation itself, evacuation levels, and official alerts, see Live Info & Alerts.

If the smoke and the fires are wearing you down, the Disaster Distress Helpline is free, confidential, and open around the clock. You'll find it on the home page and on Live Info & Alerts.