Home Care In Seattle, WA

A solar storm scheduled to hit Earth this weekend could make the northern lights visible across much of the United States — including Washington, if conditions are just right.

After locals captured glints of green-and-purple aurora borealis in the early morning hours Sunday in Seattle, there’s a 10% or greater chance that most of Washington could get a glimpse of the northern lights starting around 10:30 p.m. Sunday, with the best chance of viewing from roughly 11:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m., according to a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecast.

It’s considered a “very rare” watch for a severe “G4” geomagnetic storm. Aurora could be visible “over much of the northern half of the country, and maybe as far south as Alabama to northern California,” according to NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center.

Near Seattle, the farther north you go, the better odds of a dazzling show. Going somewhere outside of a city, with less light pollution, also helps. The moon will be nearing its first-quarter phase, and we should get clear night skies around much of Western Washington.

However, NWS Meteorologist Maddie Kristell said it’s hard to nail down probabilities when it comes to seeing aurora.

“This is really variable,” Kristell said. “It’s been hard to pin down a key time, but I think a good bet would be (to wait) until the sun is down tonight. And certainly we’re within the extent where we should be able to see it.”

The colorful lights of the aurora borealis become visible due to geomagnetic storms, when the sun ejects energy toward the Earth, National Weather Service meteorologist Anna Lindeman said.

Lindeman said visibility depends on the strength of the storm and other weather, including fog and clouds.

“There’s a little bit of uncertainty with this latest system,” Lindeman said Saturday evening.

Lindeman said the storm could be unusually strong.

The Northern Lights

Weather should be reasonably clear on Sunday night in the Seattle area, Lindeman said.

For those hoping to catch a glimpse of the lights, a cellphone camera may be more than just a way to document the sight.

“Typically with this sort of thing, the naked eye isn’t necessarily going to pick up the whole spectrum of light,” Lindeman said. “So it’s a lot easier to see it on your phone or with time-lapse photos.”

Want to share your astounding aurora borealis photos with other readers? Please email your best picture to [email protected] and we may publish it in a follow-up story.

Caitlyn Freeman: [email protected].

Jayati Ramakrishnan: [email protected].

Climate Lab is a Seattle Times initiative that explores the effects of climate change in the Pacific Northwest and beyond. The project is funded in part by The Bullitt Foundation, CO2 Foundation, Jim and Birte Falconer, Mike and Becky Hughes, Henry M. Jackson Foundation, University of Washington and Walker Family Foundation, and its fiscal sponsor is the Seattle Foundation.

ISSAQUAH — Tools leaning against a garden shed. Pine cones and wood chips flanking the house. Arborvitae providing a natural fence between neighbors.

When Cat Robinson scanned these surroundings at Mary and Bob Fransen’s home along the Issaquah Alps, she saw fuels for fire.

Robinson, with Eastside Fire & Rescue, is trained to identify these pathways for fire and help residents reduce the risk of losing their home.

These assessments, free to those within the fire district, are one of the ways residents can prepare for wildfire season, which is expected to bring above-average fire risk in Central and Eastern Washington in June and Western Washington in July.

Wildfire season in WA: Above-normal risk in forecast

They are an important tool as hotter, drier summers in the Northwest fueled by climate change have led to more wildfires and longer fire seasons.

Climate change isn’t the only factor. More than a century of suppressing wildfires, removing Indigenous burning practices, harvesting large trees and more fire-tolerant species and more human-caused ignitions all contribute. Meanwhile, more human development has moved into the state’s forests, grasslands and sagebrush-steppe.

But there are steps people can take to reduce risks to home and family.

Where should you start?

Find your local agency at mil.wa.gov/alerts#local to sign up for emergency alerts. These will notify you of important messages from emergency managers, including evacuation notices.

You can find tips to prepare your home for wildfire, build an evacuation kit and who to contact by county at the state’s resource library: dnr.wa.gov/community-wildfire-resilience-resource-library.

Find important documents — like birth certificates, insurance documents, home and vehicle titles — and put them in a place where they are easy to find if you need to evacuate. The Department of Natural Resources recommends visiting ready.gov/kit for tips on what to include in an evacuation kit.

Food: nonperishable food for you and your petsWaterMap with at least two planned evacuation routesImportant documents: birth certificate, titles, insurance documents, passports or other identification Change of clothesExtra eyeglasses or contact lensesPrescriptionsSanitation suppliesFlashlightBattery-powered radioMoney: credit cards, cash or checksFirst aid kitValuables that are easy to carryFamily photos and irreplaceable itemsPersonal computer data on hard drives and disksChargers for cellphones and laptopsSource: California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection

Renters and homeowners can sign up for a free home assessment on the state’s “Wildfire Ready Neighbors” website: st.news/home-assessments.

Local fire and conservation districts, like King Conservation District and Eastside Fire & Rescue, also conduct assessments.

Are you ready for the smoke?

Check Washington Smoke Blog — wasmoke.blogspot.com — for the latest air quality updates and a five-day smoke forecast.

People should reduce strenuous outdoor activities, mask and filter indoor air when air quality levels are considered “unhealthy,” or when air quality index, or AQI, exceeds 150.

And people at higher risk from smoke — including children, those over 65, those with asthma or respiratory and heart conditions, and pregnant people — should practice these strategies when AQI hits 100.

It’s a good idea to start preparing for wildfire smoke before it arrives. Products like filters and air purifiers will sell out.

Research has shown wildfire smoke exposure can exacerbate certain lung diseases, like asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, said Dr. Coralynn Sack, a pulmonologist and assistant professor in environmental and occupational medicine at the University of Washington. There’s also evidence that acute wildfire smoke exposure may increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases like stroke, heart attacks, arrhythmia and heart failure.

Researchers are also starting to make the link between smoke exposure and an increased risk of dementia and reproductive outcomes, such as low birth weight and decreased sperm motility.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has guides on how to pick portable air cleaners and furnace or HVAC filters used in a home at: epa.gov/indoor-air-quality-iaq/guide-air-cleaners-home.

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Be sure to select a HEPA air purifier that is effective at removing small particles, Sack said. People should avoid the ionizing air cleaners that produce ozone, which can cause lung damage, Sack said.

If you have an existing HVAC unit, make sure you have extra filters on hand.

You can also build a fan filter using a box fan, a furnace filter and masking tape. Use a 20-inch box fan and a filter of the same size, either a MERV 13 or FPR 10 filter.

More tips for constructing the box fan filter are available at: seattletimes.com/seattle-news/how-to-prepare-for-wildfire-smoke-in-your-home-car-and-while-outdoors/.

Before smoke arrives, try to stock up on groceries and necessary medications. If people do need to go out, Sack recommends wearing an N95 mask and reviewing online guides on how to properly fit a mask and ensure there aren’t leaks.

What can you expect from a home assessment?

The Fransens have lived in the shadow of the densely wooded Issaquah Alps since 1986.

It wasn’t until a recent stay in a Montana Airbnb that they started thinking about how their home could fare in a fire. There, Mary Fransen said, it seemed the property owners had done the most they could to reduce risk.

The Fransens completed the Wildfire Safe Eastside request form, which asks a few questions about where they live, and Robinson, with Eastside Fire & Rescue, responded to set a time for the assessment within a couple of weeks.

For a little over an hour, Robinson walked their property, documenting potential hazards through photos and notes on an iPad. She looked to the roof: asphalt, something that will provide great protection in a fire, she said.

Just below the roof, she zoomed in on the gable vents.

The most common way that homes burn in a wildfire is tiny windblown embers, Robinson said. They land on and around a home on vulnerable items that ignite and then spread the fire.

Vents are a main vulnerability.

The mesh screen on the Fransens’ vents was ¼ inch, the standard for most construction. Robinson recommended replacing it with ? inch metal mesh — holes fine enough that most embers can’t penetrate and a material that won’t melt on impact.

“A lot of people, when I come to their house they turn their back on their house, they look out at the forest and they say, ‘I’m worried about that,'” Robinson said.

Instead, they should focus on the home itself and the first 30 feet from the home.

She urged them to look at the home with an eye for where embers could settle and whether that surface is flammable — like the wood trim around the Fransens’ windows — and consider replacing with a nonflammable material.

She identified some changes they could make to break up the path for fire: getting rid of arborvitae, English holly and other flammable plants; reducing “ladder fuels,” or vegetation that could introduce fire into the canopies of trees or the home; replacing wood chips along the home with dirt, stone pavers or bricks; and removing a flammable doormat.

From her survey, she will produce a report with a set of recommendations for mitigation around the home.

“You can elect to do them all, do one, do none,” Robinson explained. “We encourage you to do as many as you can, but we also recognize that costs money.”

King Conservation District has a cost-share program to help residents complete some wildfire mitigation work. You can check with the state Department of Natural Resources and other local conservation districts for this assistance.

Is your home insurance adequate?

Check to see if you have adequate insurance coverage to rebuild your home from the ground up — this includes debris removal, construction and temporary housing.

The additional living expense coverage isn’t always included in a home policy and it may have a time or cost cap. The state Office of the Insurance Commissioner recommends having two years of coverage.

Your insurance agent should be able to walk you through what you may need.

About two-thirds of residents with “significant” damage in the Gray and Oregon Road fires in Spokane County in 2023 were likely underinsured, said Aaron VanTuyl, a spokesperson for the insurance commissioner’s office. There are still 102 claims “open” and at least 43 of those will run out of living expense coverage by Aug. 18, according to VanTuyl.

Make a detailed inventory of everything in your home. An app from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners allows you to catalog your personal items. You can also walk through your home and take a video to give an idea of what’s in your home if you need to file a claim.

Material from The Seattle Times archives was used in this story.

Isabella Breda: 206-652-6536 or [email protected]. Seattle Times staff reporter Isabella Breda covers the environment.

The Mental Health Project is a Seattle Times initiative focused on covering mental and behavioral health issues. It is funded by Ballmer Group, a national organization focused on economic mobility for children and families. The Seattle Times maintains editorial control over work produced by this team.

When someone leaves long-term psychiatric treatment, they’re usually assessed for whether they’re mentally and emotionally ready to go back to the community.

What’s less talked about is whether their basic needs — shelter, food and clothing — will be met once they’re on their own.

People may enter residential psychiatric treatment without much more than the clothes on their backs. Many don’t have a support system that can bring them more clothing, and if they’re unhoused, their possessions may have disappeared by the time they’re discharged weeks or months later.

Some hospitals collect donations — helping people get proper shoes or jackets before they step out into a rainy Seattle winter, for example. UW Medicine recently restarted such a program collecting donations from staff, and the state-run Olympic Heritage Behavioral Health center runs a similar program. But the items they’re able to collect are limited, and dependent on donations from employees. And once patients get out into the community, their options for finding clothing and other necessities can dwindle even more.

There are typically two kinds of discharge for patients committed to involuntary mental health treatment through the civil court system, said Todd Carlisle, a staff attorney for Disability Rights Washington. A “planned discharge” is one where everyone is typically on the same page about the patient’s next steps — the hospital, the courts and the patient, who will usually be connected with a case manager and other services.

But in rare cases, the court will decide to release the patient without the agreement of the hospital or patient’s treatment team, Carlisle said. In those situations, release tends to be more rushed with little planning for how to connect patients with funds or adequate clothing.

Per a state requirement, behavioral health facilities that treat civil commitment patients, or those involuntarily committed to mental health treatment, must provide patients with “suitable clothing” and enough money for transportation — typically around $40, according to state policy.

But Carlisle said there’s little oversight of whether that law is followed.

“I do question how uniform and systemic that is,” Carlisle said. “What’s the process for having to provide adequate clothing and funding?”

Several of the area’s large behavioral health centers collect clothing and other items for patients to wear once they’re released, though they generally take donations solely from their own staff.

UW Medicine’s Center for Behavioral Health and Learning recently started a clothing drive for all types of clothing from jackets and pants to socks and underwear. The center is also collecting hygiene items such as deodorant and shampoo.

On a recent visit, a small blue bin sat in the lobby of the hospital, with a sign taped to the front seeking clothing donations. Sitting on a neatly labeled shelf in one of the facility’s storage rooms were collected donations, including two pairs of boots, a few shirts and a bin of jackets and sweatshirts.

Items, including clothing, must all be new, said Sara Vadset, the center’s recreation therapy supervisor.

The Olympic Heritage Behavioral Health hospital in Tukwila collects new and gently used items to distribute to patients, both for when they’re at the hospital and for when they leave. Cynthia Shipley, a spokesperson for the Department of Social and Health Services, said Western State Hospital also plans to restart a clothing donation program this summer, and will consider taking donations from the public.

The programs only accept donations from staff, and not the general public, because of limited storage space, Shipley said.

State-run behavioral health facilities absorb the costs of some basic clothing for patients, as per the state law requiring adequate clothing and transportation funds.

But while patients get some basic items, like sweatshirts, sweatpants, socks and “slide” shoes, other items, such as sturdy shoes or raincoats, are dependent on donations.

“This is a brand-new thing we’re starting, and we’re growing the donations right now,” said Maddie Gould, a recreation therapist at the Center for Behavioral Health and Learning.

The staff tries to make sure each patient gets a pair of pants, a long-sleeved shirt, a jacket and shorts, to keep up with the changing weather. Staff members also assess items patients arrived with, to see if they can be returned to them.

“Just to make sure everyone has the opportunity to receive new clothing,” Gould said.

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Vadset, the recreation therapy supervisor, said they would eventually like to expand the program to get patients other items, such as comfortable shoes and clothing for job interviews.

“We want people to be warm, but we also want people to go out into the community and be able to get around with something other than slides. It’s dignity, safety, but it’s also figuring out how we can pull it off.”

There’s little structure in place to enforce that facilities provide even the basic, legally mandated supplies, however, especially outside of state-run facilities. Carlisle, with Disability Rights Washington, said while larger facilities run by the state may have donation programs, it’s harder to know whether smaller, private care centers are following those rules.

And once patients return to the community, there are no consistent services to ensure they can keep accessing those needs. Some food banks collect clothing, such as the West Seattle Food Bank, and some services provide hygiene programs. But people who are exiting behavioral health care must rely on the “meager social service network” that’s available to them, Carlisle said.

“We really need to explore that a little bit more,” Vadset said. “People are donating to Goodwill. But wouldn’t it be wonderful if there was an organization that just took donations. You’d have to have a good laundry system, and then people could go acquire items without cost. That would be a dream.”

Mental health resources from The Seattle Times

Jayati Ramakrishnan: [email protected].

The Brief

A Seattle-area Catholic school is filing a complaint against U.S. Customs and Border Protection, alleging they detained and questioned music students — specifically students of color — on a return trip from Canada.

Students at Eastside Catholic School, located in Sammamish, went on a band and choir trip to Canada.

The backstory:

According to school president Gil Picciotto, when they came back into the U.S. at the border crossing, a U.S. border agent stopped and questioned students about their "affiliation with the school and wrongfully accused them of attempting to enter the country unlawfully."

Picciotto says nearly all the students detained were students of color. They were all fully documented and under school supervision.

"We are deeply grateful to our students and faculty who, in the face of this unjust and xenophobic treatment, responded with calm, courage and grace," wrote Picciotto.

Catholic school files complaint against U.S. CBP

What they're saying:

On Thursday, Eastside Catholic School announced it would be filing a complaint against the federal agency.

"Eastside Catholic School is aware of an incident during a recent student trip and will be filing a formal complaint with U.S. Customs and Border Protection," reads a statement from the school. "As a Catholic school, we are committed to upholding the dignity of every individual and advocating for our students' well-being. At this time, to protect the privacy of those involved and remain focused on supporting our students and families, we will not be making further public comments."

The other side:

U.S. Customs and Border Protection did not immediately respond to our request for comment.

Eastside Catholic School said it would make no further comments on this incident.

Last week, the World Health Organization designated NB.1.8.1, a new strain of COVID-19 that’s been rising in frequency lately, as a “variant under monitoring.” Now, Washington state has its first case.

The case was detected by a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention surveillance program at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, according to a statement sent to McClatchy by the Washington State Department of Health.

“There appears to be a single detection of NB.1.8.1 in Washington state,” the statement said. “The sample was collected on May 15th 2025 by Ginko Bioworks, the industry partner for CDC’s Traveler Genomic Surveillance Program. This means this sample was captured via a CDC program, not a WA surveillance system.”

Washington is one of four states where airport screening has detected the new variant, along with California, New York and Virginia. Reports suggest that only a handful of states have detected the variant, which has yet to become common enough for the CDC to include it on its COVID-19 variant tracking dashboard.

The variant has been linked to a recent spike in COVID-19 cases in China, leading to concerns it could spread quickly in the U.S. However, officials say the early indications are that the variant doesn’t pose much of a threat. Here’s what to know about NB.1.8.1 in Washington.

According to WHO, the frequency of NB.1.8.1 cases quadrupled during April. The variant accounted for 2.5% of COVID-19 samples obtained over the week ending April 6. By April 27, that number had risen to 10.7%.

But despite the sharp rise, health officials say that the case doesn’t necessarily pose a threat to the public.

According to WHO, there isn’t much evidence that NB.1.8.1 is any more dangerous than existing variants.

“The additional public health risk posed by NB.1.8.1 is evaluated as low,” WHO’s latest report on the strain says.

That’s largely due to the fact that early evidence indicates available COVID vaccines protect against the severe illness in patients with the new variant.

WHO did note that some countries have seen an increase in cases and hospitalizations as NB.1.8.1 spread. However, WHO’s latest update on the variant states that “current data do not indicate that this variant leads to more severe illness than other variants in circulation.”

WHO also noted that little information is available about the variant right now, and that these conclusions are drawn from preliminary observations.

The state health department echoed WHO, saying that there’s no evidence the variant poses significant risk to the public.

DOH noted that the case was detected in the airport, making it unclear whether or not the person who tested positive is a Washington resident.

“Because this is a Traveler Genomic Surveillance collection, the collection site would be SEA-TAC airport; however, that doesn’t mean that the case is necessarily a Washington resident, meaning county may not be a relevant field,” the DOH statement said.

COVID-19 case counts have fallen in Washington so far this year. Through mid-May, the state has seen 399 COVID-19 deaths, according to DOH’s respiratory illness dashboard. That’s less than half of the 897 deaths seen at this point last year, and around 25% of the number seen in 2023. The disease currently accounts for 0.5% of Washington hospital visits, compared to 0.9% last May and 1.5% in May of 2023.