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Page A-4 - Shelton-Mason County Journal — Thursday, Sept. 24, 2020
TIMES
Late summer has new color Welcome to the jungle
abor Day was the day
Lwhen a barrage of
rare easterly winds
swept through the North—
west, abetting the start
of and farming wildfires
across Washington and Or-
egon. Until blue skies re-
turned Sept. 19, our world
was cast orange, and not
you see in Sunkist ads.
It was that flat, bland,
seedy orange that is our presi-
dent’s complexion. The sky at sun-
set was orange. The needles and
seeds cast off by cedar and pine
trees appeared orange, as did our
skin, bronzed or unbronzed. In the
Northwest, we have spring green,
summer blue, winter gray and now
we might have to add late—summer
orange.
If four of the past five summers
are any indication, seasonal orange
is here to stay, and Shelton will
likely be more orangish than other
Western Washington locales.
Shelton registered someof the
worst air quality in Western Wash—
ington outside of the Portland-Van-
couver area during our wildfire sea-
son, according to the state Depart-
ment of Ecology’s air quality index.
The air monitoring station atop the
Public Safety Building at 122 W.
Franklin St. recorded several days
in the hazardous range, the worst
range of the six-colored scale. We
spent several days in deep purple.
We had smoke on the water.
Shelton’s monitoring station,
like the nearly 35 other stations
scattered about Western Wash-
ington, provides measurements of
particulate matter, a key culprit to
hazy skies. Particulate matter is a
mixture of solids ordroplets that
includes smoke, soot, dirt and dust,
and it comes from sources such as
fireplaces, vehicles, industrial fa-
cilities and wildfires.
The highest particulate pollu-
tion level recorded in Shelton was
388 on Sept. 14. That was bad, but
not as bad as Madras, Oregon, 120
miles southeast of Portland. Ma-
dras hit 593 on Wednesday, Sept.
9. That was 93 points beyond the
farthest edge of the air quality in-
dex, or as the website airnow.gov
pointed out, Madras’ air quality
was “beyond the AQI.”
Our area remained in un-
healthy, very unhealthy or hazard-
ous conditions from Friday, Sept.
u
WNWMMMWMQ iiimmmi
USPS 492-800
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Shelton-Mason
County Journal, P.O. Box 430. Shelton, WA 98584.
Published weekly by the Shelton-Mason County Journal
at 227 W. Cota St, Shelton, Washington.
Mailing address: PO. Box 430, Shelton, WA'98584
Telephone: 360-426-4412
Website: www.masoncountycom
Periodicals postage paid in Shelton, Washington-
By KIRK
that happy, vibrant orange ERICSON
11, when we hit the haz-
ardous zone at 2 a.m., until
Sept. 19, when returned
to the best zone, the green
zone, at 3 am.
Shelton’s air quality has
captured the attention of
people in the air quality
business.
“We were just talking
about that (Shelton’s air
quality) as recently as this
morning,” Dan Nelson
said last Friday. He’s the public
information officer for the Olympic
Region Clean Air Agency, which
monitors air quality in six counties,
including Mason and Thurston
counties.
The working theory is that be-
cause Shelton is in a basin and
because wildfire smoke settles, our
area is a victim of geography.
“Trying to forecast how smoke
moves is tough because of all the
mountains and valleys,” Dan said.
“You get these air and land dams
that catch the air, and that what’s
happening in Shelton.”
What happened this year was
that the strong easterly winds
that started Sept. 7 — Labor Day
— and for a day or two after that,
pushed smoke from the Oregon
wildfires far into the Pacific Ocean.
So when winds resumed their more
usual pattern of blowing in from
the west, it took a long time to
push all that old Oregon wildfire
smoke back toward shore — and
across Washington. In fact, smoke
started showing up on the East
Coast last week.
Can Shelton expect days like
these every year?
“I wouldn’t go as far as to say
that,” Dan said. “It all depends on
wind directions and wind speed.
(These widespread wildfires) are
such a new phenomenon in the
17 years I’ve been here it’s the only
time we’ve had these smoke intru-
sions. It’s most likely we’re going
to see more, but we just don’t have
the data yet.”
And where would you recom-
mend going if you’re looking for a
place to become a smoke refugee,
but still remain in Washington?
“Neah Bay,” Dan said. “Not be-
cause it’s the farthest west, but be-
cause it’s sticking out in the ocean
more.”
I Contact Kirk Ericson at kirk@
masoncounty.com
The Shelton-Mason County Jour-
nal is a member of the Wash-
ington Newspaper Publishers
Association.
SUBSCRIPTION RATES:
$62 per year ($43 for six months)
for Mason County addresses and
$75 per year ($55 for six months)
outside of Mason County.
Owned and published by
Shelton-Mason County Journal, Inc.
EDITOR’S
ello again Mason
County.
Back in December
2018, I moved to Shelton and
joined the staff here at the
Shelton-Mason County Jour-
nal as the newspaper’s sports
reporter.
About a year later, that
turned into being the paper’s
Sports & Outdoors Editor.
Two months ago, the Journal’s
editor in chief, Adam Rudnick
accepted a position with the state and
left the newspaper after nine years.
After some thought, I asked Publish-
er Tom Mullen and General Manager
John Lester for a chance to take the
reins.
Friday, after handling the duties on
an interim basis for about seven weeks,
I was oflicially named the Joumal’s
editor.
It’s been just shy of 23 years since I
wrote my first newspaper story. It was
covering a high school girls basketball
game at a frigid middle school gym in a
rural farming town in northern Utah.
Publisher: Torn Mullen Front office:
By JUSTIN
JOHNSON
I don’t remember the score,
but I did get my first “no com-
ment” that night after asking
a question of the losing team’s
coach.
The 20 months since ar-
riving here in Mason County
have seen their share of highs
and lows.
I’ve met and written about
some great people, and, truth
be told, meeting and learning
about the community is one of
the 39perks of working for a paper.
It’s also been a tough time as we all
deal with the fallout of the novel coro-
navirus. Lives have changed, and so
has the world.
Consider this an invitation to reach
out and introduce yourself. Tell me
what you want to see in your newspa-
per.
I can’t wait to hear from you.
I Justin Johnson is the Editor of the
Shelton-Mason County Journal. He
can be reached at justin@masoncounty.
com
THIS IS TAKING LONGER
AND IS HARDER THAN
DECONTAMINATING
COVID19
Dave Pierik, Office Administrator
Advertising:
John Lester, General Manager
Theresa Murray, Ad Representative Delivery:
Jon Garza
Newsroom: David Olson
Justin Johnson, Editor Niel Challstrom
Gordon Weeks, Reporter
Kirk Boxleitner, Reporter
Isabella Breda, Reporter
Lloyd Mullen, Creative Director
Kirk Ericson, Columnist/ Proofreader
Composing room:
Karen Hranac, Customer Service
All regular editorial, advertising
and legal deadlines are 5 pm. the
Monday prior to publication.
To submit a letter to the editor,
email editor@masoncounty.com.
William Adams, Advertising
Design and Technical Support
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