Tomorrow will be a very smoky day where I am. It will probably be the worst that it has been since I made it home from Australia. The winds have shifted bringing cooler air from the north, but this is also bringing smoke from the forest fires.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has a website that has a smoke forecast map. Above is the current Near Surface Smoke map. You can see large areas of heavy smoke across the Northwest.
Here I have zoomed in on the central part of California. You can see that a large area of smoke is coming south from the fires in Northern California. In a maps that shows smoke in higher levels the heavy smoke plume extends all the way down to San Jose.
Why is the smoke near the surface not as heavy?
The Delta Breeze has been doing a good job of clearing out the smoke in the lower levels. The prevailing winds are usually to the east, especially at night.
In about 4-5 hours the Delta Breeze will weaken. You can see at that time that there will be a large area where much of the smoke will be cleared out. However, you can see that the heavy smoke to the north of the Bay Area will have crept closer and it will also be intensifying at ground level south of Livermore.
By tomorrow morning the smoke will start to descend from the upper levels and by late afternoon there will be heavy smoke at ground level in most of the inland areas. The forecast for Air Quality is also very high for tomorrow. It will definitely be a day to stay inside.
Tonight will be another night of sleeping with closed windows. Even driving to and from work I have to recirculate the air in the car because of how smoky the air is.
I will be so glad when the fires are under control and the smoke diminishes. I need some fresh air.
Steven
Braman's Wanderings 