SMOKE MANAGEMENT
FORECAST AND INSTRUCTIONS
SALEM FORESTRY
WEATHER CENTER
OREGON DEPARTMENT
OF FORESTRY
ISSUED: Monday,
February 9, 2026
2:30 PM Pete Parsons
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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 persistent upper-level ridge over the western US finally
broke down over the weekend. Sunday
brought soaking rain and mountain snow to Oregon. Most western sites received from .50” to 1.00”
of precipitation with several inches of snow above 3-4000 feet. North-central Oregon saw mostly from .10” to
.25” of precipitation.
A weak upper-level trough brought scattered showers today to
mostly the NW zones, with snow levels hovering near 3-4000 feet. Showers will end tonight...leading to inversions
and areas of valley fog.
A split-flow jet stream pattern develops Tuesday and
Wednesday, with Oregon sandwiched between one branch of the jet over SW Canada
and the other over California. Morning
inversions, with areas of valley fog, should yield to fair daytime mixing with generally
light NE-SE winds. Expect partly sunny
skies north, and mostly cloudy skies south in the afternoons. A weather system moving across northern
California may produce a few areas of light rain or snow near the California
border. Snow levels will be near 4000
feet north and 5000 feet south.
EXTENDED DISCUSSION
A transitory upper-level ridge brings dry weather on
Thursday with partly to mostly sunny skies by the afternoon. Temperatures remain near average with fair
daytime mixing. However, transport winds
turn weakly onshore.
Increasing WSW flow aloft pushes the first in a new series
of Pacific weather systems onshore on Friday.
Expect increasing clouds with rain pushing onto the north coast in the
morning and slowly advancing south and east during the day. Rainfall totals could exceed .25” across the NW
zones. Mixing improves, especially north,
with increasing SW-W transport winds. Snow
levels drop to near 3000 feet north and 4000 feet south Friday night.
2. DISPERSION
TUESDAY
Zone 601, 602,
603 and 612 (North Coast Range):
MORNING
Mixing height
below 1000 ft early rising to 1000 - 2000 ft by late morning.
Transport wind
NNE to NE at 9 - 15 mph.
Surface wind N to
NE at 5 - 9 mph.
AFTERNOON
Mixing height
rising to 2300 - 3300 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 early rising to 1000 - 2000 ft by late morning.
Transport wind E
to ESE at 9 - 15 mph.
Surface wind ENE
to ESE at 5 - 9 mph.
AFTERNOON
Mixing height
rising to 2300 - 3300 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 615-620
(South Coast Range):
MORNING
Mixing height
below 1000 ft early rising to 1000 - 2000 ft by late morning.
Transport wind NE
to E at 8 - 12 mph.
Surface wind NE
to E at 5 - 9 mph.
AFTERNOON
Mixing height
rising to 2300 - 3300 ft.
Transport wind
NNE to ENE at 8 - 12 mph.
Surface wind NNE
to ENE at 4 - 8 mph.
EVENING
Mixing height
lowers below 1000 ft.
Transport wind
NNW to NE at 6 - 12 mph.
Surface wind NNW
to NE at 5 - 9 mph.
OUTLOOK:
WEDNESDAY
Mixing height
below 1000 ft early rising to 1000 to 2000 ft by late morning rising to 2300 to
3300 ft during the afternoon. Transport
wind NE to E at 5 - 9 mph. Surface wind light and variable.
THURSDAY
Mixing height
below 1000 ft during the morning rising to 2000 to 3000 ft during the
afternoon. Transport wind light and
variable during the morning becoming W to NW at 4 - 8 mph during the afternoon. Surface wind light and variable.
FRIDAY
Mixing height
below 1000 ft early rising to 1000 to 1900 ft by late morning rising to 3300 to
4300 ft during the afternoon. Transport
wind SSW to WSW at 5 - 9 mph. Surface
wind SSE to SW at 4 - 8 mph during the morning becoming SSW to WSW at 4 - 8 mph
during the afternoon.
3. BURNING
INSTRUCTIONS FOR ALL ZONES IN THE WESTERN OREGON AREA
- Valid for burning done Tuesday, February
10, 2026.
=================================================================
Coast Range
***Avoid
ignitions before 10 a.m. in all zones.
Complete ignitions by 3:30 p.m. in all zones.***
All Zones
Use standard
guidance matrix - see section 5 below.
Ensure adequate distance from downwind SSRAs for smoke to dissipate.
Cascades
***Avoid
ignitions before 10 a.m. in all zones.
Complete ignitions by 3:30 p.m. in all zones.***
Zone 605 and 606
Units should be
300 tons or less, spaced 12 miles apart, and 12 miles from downwind SSRAs.
Zone 607, 608,
616, 617, 620, 622, and 623
Units should be
600 tons or less, spaced 12 miles apart, and 12 miles from downwind SSRAs.
Zone 639 and 611
Units should be
1200 tons or less, spaced 12 miles apart, and 12 miles from downwind SSRAs.
Zone 610
Use standard
guidance matrix - see section 5 below.
Siskiyous
***Avoid
ignitions before 10 a.m. Complete ignitions by 3:30 p.m.***
Units should be
1200 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.