Seattle area to see cloudy mornings, clear afternoons and — thankfully — no smoke for July 4th weekend

Seattle may not get perfectly blue, clear skies for the Fourth of July weekend, but at least we won’t need raincoats and fleeces.

Even better, the smoke drifting toward Washington from British Columbia is expected to remain aloft and not mix with surface air, according to the National Weather Service of Seattle. Significant air quality impacts are not expected.

In Canada, the “entire” town of Lytton — where the nation’s highest temperatures were ever recorded — was on fire, the mayor said, as deadly blazes burned out of control and forced the evacuation of the whole town’s population.

Canada’s historical high temperature records were set earlier this week in Lytton, where it reached 115 degrees Sunday, 118 on Monday and 121 on Tuesday.

“Three consecutive days of the highest recorded temperature in Canadian history all happened in Lytton this week. To have a heat wave and a horrific fire is so troubling and so challenging for the people of this community,” said British Columbia Premier John Horgan.

But in Seattle, thankfully, an onshore flow of marine air and clouds from the Pacific will likely blanket the Puget Sound region every morning over the three-day holiday weekend. That will keep overnight humidity high, a needed hedge against fire, said meteorologist Jeff Michalski.

“There’s so many fires up in B.C., some wildfire smoke may spread to the area,” he said, “but Puget Sound Clean Air is expecting it to remain elevated.”

He said the smoke may be most obvious to Western Washingtonians this weekend in vivid orange or red sunsets.

The pattern for the weekend and into next week remains warm and dry with morning clouds and afternoon sunbreaks.

On Saturday, the weather service is predicting a high in the low to mid-80s. Sunday and Monday will be slightly cooler with highs of about 80 degrees, Michalski said.