SMOKE MANAGEMENT
FORECAST AND INSTRUCTIONS
SALEM FORESTRY
WEATHER CENTER
OREGON DEPARTMENT
OF FORESTRY
ISSUED:
Wednesday, May 20, 2026 2:30 PM Sherri Pugh
1. DISCUSSION AND FORECAST FOR THE WESTERN
OREGON AREA FORECAST ZONES 601-623 and 639
Thursday will be the warmest day of the
week for most of the region with dry weather.
Upper-level ridging will have NW flow aloft. Winds will be light and generally from N. Mixing heights will be fair or poor for coastal
zones and mostly good for Cascades zones.
EXTENDED DISCUSSION
Friday will have
light NW flow aloft as the upper-level ridge begins to weaken. Dry weather and well above seasonable temperatures
will continue. Light surface winds will
be from NW-N on the coast and variable for the Cascades. Transport winds will be light from SW-N. Mixing heights will be fair to good.
Flow aloft will be
from SW-WSW on Saturday. Skies stay dry
with well above average temperatures.
Winds will be from W-N. Mixing
heights stay fair to good.
Sunday could be the
last dry day before a chance of showers early next week. Flow aloft will be from SW with an upper-level
trough far offshore. Winds will be
mostly onshore with above average temperatures.
Mixing heights are expected to be fair to good.
2. DISPERSION
THURSDAY
Zone 601, 602,
603, 612 and 615-620 (North and South Coast Range):
MORNING
Mixing height
below 300 ft early rising to 1500 - 2500 ft by late morning.
Transport wind N
to NE at 4 - 8 mph.
Surface wind
light and variable and controlled by local terrain.
AFTERNOON
Mixing height
2300 - 3300 ft.
Transport wind
NNW to NNE at 4 - 8 mph.
Surface wind similar to morning.
EVENING
Mixing height
lowers below 1000 ft.
Transport wind
WNW to NNW at 4 - 8 mph.
Surface wind similar to afternoon.
Zone 605-611 and
639 (North Cascades):
MORNING
Mixing height
below 300 ft early rising to 2300 - 3300 ft by late morning.
Transport wind NE
to E at 4 - 8 mph.
Surface wind NE
to E at 4 - 8 mph.
AFTERNOON
Mixing height
rising to 3500 - 4500 ft.
Transport wind
NNE to ENE at 4 - 8 mph.
Surface wind NNE
to ENE at 4 - 8 mph.
EVENING
Mixing height
lowers below 1000 ft.
Transport wind
NNW to NNE at 4 - 8 mph.
Surface wind
becomes light and variable and controlled by local terrain.
Zone 616-623
(South Cascades):
MORNING
Mixing height
below 300 ft early rising to 1500 - 2500 ft by late morning.
Transport wind
NNE to ENE at 4 - 8 mph.
Surface wind
light and variable and controlled by local terrain.
AFTERNOON
Mixing height
rising to 3300 - 4300 ft.
Transport wind
NNW to NNE at 4 - 8 mph.
Surface wind similar to morning.
EVENING
Mixing height
lowers below 1000 ft.
Transport wind NW
to N at 4 - 8 mph.
Surface wind similar to afternoon.
OUTLOOK:
FRIDAY
In the Coast
Range mixing height below 1000 ft early rising to 1200 to 2200 ft by late
morning rising to 2000 to 3000 ft during the afternoon. In the Cascades mixing height
below 1000 ft early rising to 2500 to 3500 ft by late morning rising to 3500 to
4500 ft during the afternoon. Transport
wind NW to N at 4 - 8 mph. Surface wind
light and variable during the morning becoming NW to N at 4 - 8 mph during the
afternoon.
SATURDAY
In the Coast
Range mixing height below 1000 ft early rising to 1200 to 2200 ft by late
morning and through the afternoon. In
the Cascades mixing height below 1000 ft early rising to 2500 to 3500 ft by
late morning rising to 3400 to 4400 ft during the afternoon. Transport wind WSW to NW at 4 - 8 mph. Surface wind light and variable during the
morning becoming WNW to NNW at 4 - 8 mph during the afternoon.
SUNDAY
In the Coast
Range mixing height below 1000 ft early rising to 1800 to 2800 ft by late
morning and through the afternoon. In
the Cascades mixing height below 1000 ft early rising to 3000 to 4000 ft by
late morning rising to 3800 to 4800 ft during the afternoon. Transport wind WSW
to WNW at 5 - 9 mph. Surface wind light
and variable during the morning becoming WNW to NNW at 4 - 8 mph during the
afternoon.
3. BURNING INSTRUCTIONS FOR ALL ZONES IN THE
WESTERN OREGON AREA
- Valid for burning done Thursday, May 21,
2026.
=================================================================
Coast Range
***Avoid
ignitions before 10 a.m. in all zones.***
Zone 601 and 612
Units should be
1200 tons or less, spaced 12 miles apart, and 12 miles from downwind
SSRAs. Higher tonnage is possible south
of Waldport in Zone 612. Call the
forecaster.
Zone 602 and 603
Units should be
600 tons or less, spaced 12 miles apart, and 12 miles from downwind SSRAs. Limit tonnage north of Forest Grove/Hillsboro
or Sheridan/Willamina in Zone 602. Higher
tonnage is possible south of T17S in Zone 603.
Call the forecaster.
Zone 615, 616,
618, 619, and 620
Use standard
guidance matrix. (See section 5 below.)
Avoid burning directly upwind of the North Bend/Coos Bay SSRA.
Cascades
***Avoid
ignitions before 10 a.m. in all zones.***
Zone 605 and 606
Units should be
400 tons or less, spaced 6 miles apart, and 8 miles from downwind SSRAs. Higher tonnage is possible south of T20S in
Zone 606 - call the forecaster.
Zone 607 and 608
Units should be
1000 tons or less, spaced 6 miles apart, and 8 miles from downwind SSRAs.
Zone 639, 610,
611, 617, and 623
Use standard
guidance matrix - see section 5 below.
Ensure adequate distance from downwind SSRAs for smoke to
dissipate. South of T30S in Zone 617
units should be 600 tons or less, spaced 8 miles apart.
Zone 616
Units should be
1200 tons or less, spaced 8 miles apart, and 10 miles from downwind SSRAs. South of T30S units should be 600 tons or
less, spaced 8 miles apart.
Zone 620 and 622
Units should be
300 tons or less, spaced 8 miles apart, and 10 miles from downwind SSRAs.
Siskiyous
***Avoid
ignitions before 10 a.m.***
Use standard
guidance matrix - see section 5 below. Ensure adequate distance from downwind
SSRAs for smoke to dissipate.
==============================================================
4. SPECIAL NOTES:
The ODF forecast
smoke zones differ from the NWS fire zones and
are available at:
https://www.oregon.gov/odf/fire/documents/smoke-forecast-zone-map.pdf
Call the smoke management duty forecaster
at (503) 945-7401 to
discuss burning. Please do not call individual's numbers to
discuss daily burning. If the forecaster is
not available,
leave a message and they will return your
call as soon as possible.
Avoid calling between 1:30 to 2:45 p.m.
The forecast is available on the Internet
at:
http://www.odf.state.or.us/DIVISIONS/protection/fire_protection/
Daily/smi.htm
Please ensure your units have been planned
and accomplished by
checking:
http://www.oregon.gov/ODF/Fire/Pages/Burn.aspx
A map of planned and/or accomplished burns
is located at:
http://geo.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html
?id=a7e321dc8fc444b7a33fbc67bc673a3b
The forecast/instruction telephone
recording is: (503) 945-7400.
To subscribe to or unsubscribe from the
email list for this
product, please go to the link:
http://weather.smkmgt.com/mailman/listinfo/
5. STANDARD GUIDANCE MATRIX:
* Greater than 5000 ft mixing height: Limit
to 150 tons per mile
from downwind SSRAs. Example: 75 tons
allowed if burned a half
mile from a downwind SSRA.
* 3000 - 5000 ft mixing height: Limit to 50
tons per mile if burning
within 5 miles of downwind SSRAs. Limit to
100 tons per mile if
burning 5 miles or beyond downwind SSRAs.
Example #1: 200 tons allowed if burned 4
miles from a downwind SSRA.
Example #2: 500 tons allowed if burned 5
miles from a downwind SSRA.
* Less than 3000 ft mixing height: No burning
within 5 miles of
downwind SSRAs. Limit to 60 tons per mile
from downwind SSRAs.
Example: 300 tons allowed if burned 5 miles
from a downwind SSRA.
* Ensure adequate spacing between units when
burning near downwind
SSRAs.
* Use of polyethylene (PE) sheeting on
greater than 75 percent of
piles in a unit with 60 percent coverage
per pile will allow a
50 percent increase in tonnage over the
existing instruction tonnage
for that zone.
* All exceptions must be coordinated with the
duty forecaster
prior to ignition.
6. BURN MONITORING:
Burns over 2000 tons must be monitored (OAR
629-048-0230(3) -
7/1/14). Monitoring of all burns is highly
recommended for both
smoke management purposes and wildfire
potential.