Oregon coast
 

Flights have been booked to fly into Portland on Sept 12, planing to spend five nights in Seaside to explore the coast and two nights in Portland. We are very concerned about the wildfires and what affect they might have on the coast. Need to decide within a couple days whether to cancel our vacation. Thanks for any and all comments / suggestions . Apparently Columbia River Gorge is not something we can plan to do.

The tricky thing is that one day (like today) air quality could be awful. Next day, wind direction changes and it's fine. I'm not sure anyone can predict a week out. But generally, the warnings I've seen are through Friday, and currently seaside air quality is "unhealthy for sensitive groups". It's supposed to get better later in the week but I think even then you'll be limited to north and central coast at best.

What's the latest you can cancel? I'm assuming you're basing this on accommodations cancellation policy?

We can cancel our flights and we have only paid a deposit on our hotels so they could also be cancelled if necessary .

My friends who are the coast now say air quality is not too bad over there. They are at Depoe Bay.

I would wait until Friday, and then look at the air report in Portland, and call your lodging in seaside and ask them for their opinion then.

My sister had to change her plans to go north and instead did go to the coast. She says it's fine. They did have to drive a bit out of the way, from Portland. It will probably be fine.

The forecast for the whole Northwest is for the winds to change tonight to onshore as opposed to offshore, so the smoke <i>ought</i> to clear out to the east. By next week the coast, Willamette Valley, and Puget Sound regions ought to be back to normal; in fact the 10-day forecast is very nice - temperatures 10 degrees cooler of more, winds from the west (i.e. off the Pacific).

Thanks everyone !