smoke?

[LDG]

I'll be up in the Bend area in a couple weeks. I was wondering if there were any air quality or visibility issues there or towards Broken Top? Any kind of wildfire-related restrictions in the area?

Things could obviously calm down a bit between then and now (or worsen), but I just thought I'd ask.

[drm]

You should assume there are possible air quality issues anywhere in the PNW for the immediate future. Emphasis on "possible" because the wind can change quite frequently. Sometimes it also depends on altitude as the smoke might be up high where it affects your views but you're not breathing much of it, or it can be down low, settling on low ground, where it's like putting your head above a campfire.

[jessbee]

Agreed with drw. Air quality here in Central Oregon changes daily, hourly. Here's a good website to check for air quality data: http://aqicn.org/city/usa/oregon/bend/

Contact the ranger station closer to the date of your visit for relevant updates on visibility and closures

[justpeachy]

Unfortunately we seem to have entered a new era in which you should assume the skies in any western state will be at least somewhat smoky during the months of August and September (and in some years, including this one, as early as July). There don't even have to be any big local wildfires, as we've seen with all this California and British Columbia smoke blanketing the entire PNW. Shifting winds can change things dramatically, blowing southern Oregon smoke due east one day, and then north up the Cascades and to Portland the next day. It makes it really difficult to plan hikes and trips, but I think this is our new reality, sadly.

This is a good site to bookmark: https://airnow.gov/index.cfm?action=top ... _wildfires

[pcg]

Here's a three-day forecast...
http://firesmoke.ca/forecasts/viewer/ru ... 1/current/