SMOKE MANAGEMENT
FORECAST AND INSTRUCTIONS
SALEM FORESTRY
WEATHER CENTER
OREGON DEPARTMENT
OF FORESTRY
ISSUED: Thursday,
February 5, 2026
2:30 PM Pete Parsons
**************** Air Stagnation Advisory Information
****************
An Air Stagnation Advisory may be in effect for your
area (consult the link below for the latest information). Please take extra
precautions and limit forestland burning to units that will not worsen air
quality within nearby SSRAs.
* Current Air Stagnation Advisories: https://www.weather.gov/wrh/.
*
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* Special Protection Zone (SPZ) provisions apply from
November 15 through February 15.
Prescribed burning is not allowed in an SPZ from December 1 through
February 15 on days when the daily woodstove “Ordinance” is either “Red,” “Exempt
Wood Burning Device,” or “No Burning Period.”
Burning is allowed inside of SPZs all other days, but please use extra
precautions and limit forestland burning to units that will not worsen air
quality within nearby SSRAs. *
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1. DISCUSSION AND
FORECAST FOR THE WESTERN OREGON AREA FORECAST ZONES 601-623 and 639
SHORT-TERM DISCUSSION
The axis of a strong upper-level ridge shifted eastward
today, with a dry and unseasonably mild southerly flow aloft lifting freezing
levels to above 12,000 feet. Except for a
few valley locations, which had persistent fog, sunny skies made for mild
daytime temperatures. However, very warm
air aloft is maintaining generally poor mixing.
The upper-level ridge weakens and slides further eastward on
Friday, allowing a weak and splitting frontal system to push some clouds inland,
but no rain is expected. Light winds turn
onshore, signaling the beginning of a pattern change to cooler and wetter
weather. Slight cooling aloft may marginally improve afternoon mixing.
EXTENDED DISCUSSION
Increasing SW flow aloft pushes a stronger weather system
ashore on Saturday. Clouds increase and temperatures
continue cooling. Mixing improves with increasing
S-SW winds. Rain moves onto the coast in
the afternoon and the western interior late in the day, especially north.
Rain advances eastward across all zones by Sunday morning
with snow levels dropping to 5000 feet north and 6000 feet south in the afternoon. Temperatures cool close to seasonal
normals. Rain totals could exceed an
inch along the coast and the NW interior but will taper off to around .25” in the
SW interior and to less than .10” east of the Cascades. Mixing becomes good with brisk SW-NW winds.
A weak upper-level trough maintains mostly cloudy skies on
Monday with a few residual showers, mainly north. Snow levels drop to about 3500 feet north and
4500 feet south with cooler air aloft providing excelling daytime mixing. Transport winds turn SW-W across the northern
zones and W-NW across the southern zones.
2. DISPERSION
FRIDAY
Zone 601, 602,
603, 612 and 615-620 (North and South Coast Range):
MORNING
Mixing height
below 1000 ft.
Transport wind SE
to SSW at 4 - 8 mph.
Surface wind
light and variable but favors SE to SW and controlled by local terrain.
AFTERNOON
Mixing height
1000 - 2000 ft.
Transport wind similar to morning.
Surface wind similar to morning.
EVENING
Mixing height
lowers below 1000 ft.
Transport wind similar to afternoon.
Surface wind similar to afternoon.
Zone 605-611, 639
and 616-623 (North and South Cascades):
MORNING
Mixing height
below 1000 ft.
Transport wind
light and variable but favors S to SW and controlled by local terrain.
Surface wind
light and variable but favors S to SW and controlled by local terrain.
AFTERNOON
Mixing height
1000 - 1700 ft.
Transport wind similar to morning.
Surface wind similar to morning.
EVENING
Mixing height
lowers below 1000 ft.
Transport wind similar to afternoon.
Surface wind similar to afternoon.
OUTLOOK:
SATURDAY
In the north
mixing height below 1000 ft early rising to 1000 to 1800 ft by late morning
rising to 2100 to 3100 ft during the afternoon.
In the south mixing height below 1000 ft early rising to 1000 to 1800 ft
by late morning rising to 1500 to 2500 ft during the afternoon. Transport wind SSE to SSW at 6 - 12 mph. Surface wind SSE to SSW at 4 - 8 mph.
SUNDAY
Mixing height
1600 to 2600 ft during the morning rising to 4200 to 5000 ft during the
afternoon. Transport wind SSW to WSW at
4 - 8 mph. Surface wind light and
variable during the morning becoming SW to WNW at 4 - 8 mph during the
afternoon.
MONDAY
Mixing height
1800 to 2800 ft during the morning rising above 5000 ft during the
afternoon. Transport wind SSW to WSW at
6 - 10 mph during the morning becoming WSW to WNW at 8 - 12 mph during the
afternoon. Surface wind light and
variable during the morning becoming SW to W at 4 - 8 mph during the afternoon.
3. BURNING
INSTRUCTIONS FOR ALL ZONES IN THE WESTERN OREGON AREA
- Valid for burning done Friday, February
6, 2026.
=================================================================
Coast Range
***Avoid
ignitions before 10 a.m. in all zones.
Complete ignitions by 3:30 p.m. in all zones.***
Zone 601
Units should be
1500 tons or less, spaced 12 miles apart, and 12 miles from downwind
SSRAs. North of Tillamook, use standard
guidance matrix - see section 5 below.
Zone 602 and 603
Units should be
300 tons or less, spaced 12 miles apart, and 12 miles from downwind SSRAs. North of T3N in Zone 602, use standard
guidance matrix - see section 5 below.
Units may be 900 tons or less, spaced 12 miles apart, south of the
Siuslaw River in Zone 603.
Zone 612
Units should be
1200 tons or less, spaced 12 miles apart, and 12 miles from downwind SSRAs.
Zone 615, 616
west of R8W, 618, 619, and 620
Use standard
guidance matrix - see section 5 below.
Avoid burning directly upwind of the North Bend/Coos Bay SSRA.
Zone 616 east of
R9W
Units should be
900 tons or less, spaced 12 miles apart, and 12 miles from downwind SSRAs. Higher tonnage is possible south of T29S -
call the forecaster.
Cascades
***Avoid
ignitions before 10 a.m. in all zones.
Complete ignitions by 3:30 p.m. in all zones.***
Zone 605, 606,
620, and 622
Units should be
300 tons or less, spaced 12 miles apart, and 12 miles from downwind SSRAs.
Zone 607, 608,
639, 617, and 623
Use standard
guidance matrix - see section 5 below.
Ensure adequate distance from downwind SSRAs for smoke to dissipate.
Zone 610 and 611
Units should be
1200 tons or less, spaced 12 miles apart, and 12 miles from downwind SSRAs.
Zone 616
Units should be
600 tons or less, spaced 12 miles apart, and 12 miles from downwind SSRAs. Avoid ignitions north of T24S.
Siskiyous
***Avoid
ignitions before 10 a.m. Complete ignitions by 3:30 p.m.***
Units should be
900 tons or less, spaced 12 miles apart, and 12 miles from downwind SSRAs.
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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.