Smoke In Wenatchee, NCW Coming From Fires in Far Northeast BC

There's been curiosity about smoke currently hovering over North Central Washington, and where it's coming from. 

A spike in local wildfires in the past week has not produced a lot of smoke as they've been put out quickly. 

Meteorologist Laurie Nisbet with the National Weather Service say the current smoke is coming from northeast British Columbia, and it'll be here until Friday afternoon. 

"Late afternoon we'll get a cold front that moves through, and that will bring the westerly winds and, kind of, push it to the east and out of central Washington." 

Nisbet says the source of the smoke is highly unusual because wildfires in northeast British Columbia near the Alaskan border are rare. 

"It's the northeast quadrant of British Columbia," Nisbet said. "It's way far north of Pince George even, where those fires are located. (It's) very highly unusual." 

A huge amount of smoke is being produced by the Donnie Creek fire, which is near Fort Nelson, British Columbia. Fort Nelson is a nearly 17-hour drive north from the Washington state border and is only about 100 miles south of the Yukon Territory, which sits to the east of Alaska.  

According to CTV News, the Canadian wildfire service is warning that travel will be impacted as the nearly 4,900-square-kilometre Donnie Creek wildfire expands in Northeast BC. 

The smoke from the British Columbia fires will blow out of North Central Washington by Friday afternoon. 

It's being followed by a trough of lower pressure that'll rapidly cool temperatures down into the mid and upper 60's by Sunday and Monday.