Wildfire smoke covers Sacramento. Here’s how bad it will get and when it will get better
Winds coming from the north are pushing wildfire smoke into the Sacramento region Wednesday. You’ll likely be able to smell smoke outside by this afternoon, according to the National Weather Service.
“The winds today will mostly remain from the north through the evening hours,” Hannah Chandler-Cooley, a meteorologist with NWS, said.
Some Delta breeze from the west will likely move in overnight, Chandler-Cooley said, but it’s hard to tell how much that shift will affect the smoke. Jamie Arno, spokesperson for the Sacramento Air Quality Management District, told The Sacramento Bee on Tuesday air quality will likely be poor until the weekend. Arno emphasized that if you can smell smoke, you should get inside.
According to Sacramento Air Quality Management District forecasting, Sacramento County and the broader region it monitors are expected to reach unhealthy particulate matter levels Wednesday, which means air is not safe for anyone to breathe.
While air quality in many parts of Sacramento County avoided jumping into unhealthy ranges Tuesday, that’s changing. The Sacramento Air Quality Management District forecasts the Sacramento County air quality index will reach 153 Wednesday and 151 Thursday, higher levels than initially forecast. But at one monitoring station, in downtown Sacramento, a level of 180 was recorded Wednesday morning.
The CalExpo COVID-19 testing and vaccine site announced it was closing because of the poor air quality, as workers were forced to stay outside in the sludge-filled air.
“Due to the air quality in the Sacramento region, the Curative CalExpo team has made the decision to close for the day to prioritize the health and safety of staff and patients,” it announced.
People with appointments can come to the clinic Thursday or find an alternative site.
El Dorado and Placer counties are expected to reach similar levels around 150 Wednesday, and numbers forecasted for Thursday hover in that area as well. Current conditions at Placer monitoring stations still largely reflect moderate levels of particulate matter, but in Yolo-Solano counties and parts of El Dorado County, air is unhealthy to breathe.
At 9 a.m. this morning, the monitoring station at UC Davis showed a reading of 177. Swaths of El Dorado County currently fall in the unhealthy to very unhealthy air quality index ranges, according to El Dorado County Air Quality Management District monitoring.
This story was originally published August 18, 2021 at 10:04 AM.