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Wildfire smoke impacting Southern and Eastern Oregon


The view in Medford on Tuesday afternoon.

A number of areas in Southern and Eastern Oregon are being affected by wildfire smoke. On Wednesday morning, air quality monitors in Shady Cove and Klamath Falls registered unhealthy (red) air quality. Air quality was moderate in Ashland, Medford and Lakeview. Moderate (yellow) air quality is unhealthy for extremely sensitive groups.

A number of air quality monitors from John day to Pendleton and Baker City registered moderate air quality on Wednesday morning.

Remember air quality conditions can change rapidly so it's important to check the Air Quality Index throughout wildfire season.

A refresher on the Air Quality Index and what those colors mean: Each category or color on the index spells out what precautions you should take based on how healthy the air quality is. So if the reading is orange, those in sensitive groups – children, elderly, pregnant women, those with respiratory diseases – should spend less time outdoors.  Green (0-50) is good. Yellow (51-100) is moderate (unhealthy for extremely sensitive groups). Orange (101-150) is unhealthy for sensitive groups. Red (151-200) is unhealthy for everyone. Purple (201-300) is very unhealthy for all groups. Maroon (greater than 300) is hazardous – for everyone.

Remember to bookmark the Air Quality Index. You can also download it on your smart phone by searching for OregonAir.