Smoke on the Horizon Thanks to Olympic Nat'l Park Wildfire

Mount Hopper fire, as seen from Capitol Hill

Lightning ignited a small fire in the Olympic National Park on August 5, on Mount Hopper, and thanks to winds and heat, it's now grown to about 170 acres. Since it's in the Park and not threatening anyone, the forest service is letting it burn itself out. In Seattle, that means some pretty terrific smoke plumes as a Space Needle backdrop, especially around sunset. If you were planning on hiking in the area, some trails are closed: "the Scout Lake way trail to St. Peter's Gate at Mount Stone, the way trail to Hagen Lake, and the Mount Hopper way trail which closed on Friday."

UPDATE: The buzzkills at the state's Department of Ecology have issued a news release pointing out that breathing smoke isn't good for you. Currently, as of Monday afternoon, Seattle's air quality is listed as "Unhealthy for sensitive groups." You can check in on real-time air quality measurements here. Dust masks won't help with wildfire aire pollution:

The biggest health threat from smoke comes from the fine particles. These tiny particles can get into your eyes and lungs, where they can cause health problems such as burning eyes, runny nose, and illness such as bronchitis. Fine particles also can aggravate heart and lung diseases.

A good air purifier might help. Bottom line, says the Department of Ecology, if you can smell smoke in the air, don't do anything that prompts you to suck in huge lungfuls of it.