This is when the air quality could improve in Sacramento and the Sierra foothills
The National Weather Service expects smoke and haze from burning wildfires to remain in the Sacramento region and the Sierra Nevada foothills likely for the rest of this week and possibly into the middle of next week unless conditions dramatically change.
Widespread wildfire smoke blanketed much of Northern California on Wednesday afternoon, according to the weather service. As strong wind weakens, smoke that was suspended in higher elevations will descend closer to the surface.
Skies should darken and ash should fall as more wildfire smoke gets pushed into the Sacramento Valley, according to the weather service.
The Sacramento area has seen a smokey and hazy sky for most of the past few weeks, when lightning sparked large, destructive fires throughout the state last month.
Emily Heller, a meteorologist at weather service’s Sacramento office, says residents in the valley and foothills should expect more of the same unless a large weather system moves in and disperses the smoke.
The density of the smoke in the air depends on the burning wildfires and whether firefighters make progress containing the blazes, Heller said.
Air conditions also depend on which direction the wind is blowing, and Heller says the wind will be much lighter than the wind speeds that drove new wildfires earlier this week.
“Until we get a big weather system to come through, we’re going to be smokey and hazy,” Heller said Wednesday evening.
She said there’s the possibility a weather system could move through Northern California by the middle of next week, but it’s still unclear whether that system will be big enough to disperse the smoke. But even a Delta breeze could reduce the intensity of the smoke in the air.
The smoke moving into the Sacramento Valley on Wednesday afternoon came from the north, from the August Complex in and around the Mendocino National Forest, according to the weather service. The smoke also came from the North Complex and Bear Fire burning in Yuba, Butte and Plumas counties.
Residents on Wednesday evening were advised to continue stay indoors if they smell smoke, according to a news release from the Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District and Sacramento County Department of Public Health. Officials said staying indoors is the most effective way to reduce exposure to smoke.
Despite light to moderate southwesterly wind dispersing some smoke each afternoon, particle levels will be unhealthy in the Sacramento region Wednesday and unhealthy for people with sensitive health conditions on Thursday and Friday, according to the air district’s Spare The Air website.
Levels of coarse particulate matter in the air that blew into the Sacramento area Tuesday were expected to gradually drop later this week.
“Smoke most likely will hover high above in the morning hours but will mix down towards ground level in the afternoon and evenings,” officials said in the news release. “Due to variable and changing wind conditions, the Sacramento region will continue to experience on-and-off smoke impacts while wildfires are burning throughout Northern California.”
This story was originally published September 10, 2020 at 4:00 AM.
