Saturday's rain washed away the smoke, at least briefly

Residents across much of the DC area awoke to good air quality Sunday, a welcome reprieve from one of the worst smoke pollution events on record.

Compare Sunday's sunrise view (above) with Saturday's (below).

Visibility at 7 a.m. Sunday was 10 miles compared to 2.5 miles at 7 a.m. Saturday and just 1.25 miles at 7 a.m. Friday.

The air quality across most of the area was either good (code green) or moderate (yellow) Sunday morning compared to unhealthy (purple and red) on Friday and Saturday

Here's a chart which shows the rapid improvement in air quality Saturday afternoon and evening as the showers and storms came through:

The showers and storms also provided beneficial rainfall. Here's a map of how much fell across the area:

Amounts were highly variable ranging from less than 0.1 inches to around an inch. Reagan National Airport received 0.52 inches.

Some of the storms were severe, producing damaging wind gusts. There were scattered reports of downed trees in portions of Prince William and Fairfax counties, Frederick County and from northern Anne Arundel County into Baltimore.

While the rain helped clear the air, light amounts of smoke are expected to move into the area from the north through this afternoon. However, much of this smoke may be suspended aloft and shouldn't have a large effect on air quality.