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The choking smoke that has turned the region’s sky into an apocalyptic orange-red this month and pumped noxious ash into the air — described by a government meteorologist as causing the Bay Area’s worst air quality in “decades” — should begin to dissipate within days and yield to normal temperatures, forecasters said Sunday.
But the winds that will help clear the region’s air will also bring with them an additional fire danger, raising both the possibility of new fires and new destruction from the blazes already burning through the state’s wildland. The relatively calm forecast would be a peaceful cap to more than a month of startling weather — dry lightning that sparked massive fires, followed by record-smashing high temperatures, followed by the suffocating layer of smoke and ash.
Still, the relief in air quality might not become apparent for a few days: A considerable amount of smoke now lurking just west of the coast will be blown over the Bay Area once the breezes from the sea move through the nine-county region, according to Jeff Lorber, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
“It looks like there will be a gradual clearing out of the smoke throughout the week,” Lorber said. “There are increasing winds off the water. That should help blow the smoke further east. The problem is that there is still smoke over the ocean close to the coast. Initially, that will blow more smoke over the land.”
As a result, Bay Area residents hoping for relief from the unhealthy air and ominous skies will have to wait for at least the early part of the week to proceed before better conditions become apparent.
“Until the smoke over the ocean clears out, it’s not going to get much better,” Lorber said.
The smokey air that has lingered over the Bay Area for days will likely take a place in the record books, according to Lorber. Air-quality measurements Sunday continued to register in the unhealthy range across the region, numbers that could last at least through Tuesday.
“It’s as bad as anything in recent history,” Lorber said. “It’s been decades since we’ve seen air quality this bad in the Bay Area.”
The same winds that should carry away the smoky air could bedevil firefighters who continue to battle fires across California, National Weather Service Meteorologist Ryan Walbrun said.
Walbrun said blazes in Big Sur, the Sierras, and in Northern California were all “very active” on Sunday amid the unfavorably dry weather.
“But the more north you go, like to the fires in Oregon and on the border with California, there’s a chance they’ll see rain and cooler temperatures and higher humidity,” Walbrun said.
Despite the optimistic outlook, the windy system that meteorologists expect this week won’t do much to put out the fires. Already, the wildfires have consumed nearly 3.5 million acres of wild and inhabited land across California, killed 24 people, injured 37, and left thousands of homes and other structures in rubble.
Health officials have warned the pollutants generated by the massive fires, which have burned more than 3.5 million acres, could make people more vulnerable to coronavirus.
Readings in the Santa Clara Valley showed the level of fine particulate matter at 199 micrograms per cubic meter on Sunday morning, followed closely by the Eastern Zone — made up of Concord and the Tri-Valley — at 197 micrograms per cubic meter. The 49ers kicked off their season against the Arizona Cardinals at 1:25 p.m. Sunday at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara despite the bad air.
If the smoke shifts east as expected, Walbrun said daytime highs in the South Bay are expected to be in the upper 70s and lower 80s in the early part of the week. Cooler temperatures in the mid-70s are also expected in the East Bay and North Bay, while the Interstate 580 corridor could see temperatures in the mid- to upper-80s, possibly reaching 90 degrees.
Alarmed by the brutal air quality, San Jose officials opened up two clean air centers over the weekend to assist people who wanted to escape the unhealthy conditions outside.
“It’s too hot and the air is bad, and I’m very happy to be able to use this center,” said Queyn Luong, a San Jose resident, who had taken shelter inside the Tully Road community center on Sunday.
At the Bascom Avenue clean air center, several people said they were grateful to be have the facility available.
Terry Williams, a San Jose resident, said that Sunday was his first day taking shelter at a clean air center.
“It gives us a break, it’s very helpful,” Williams said. “This also gives me a chance to charge my phone.”
Daisy Wan, a San Jose resident, said the Bascom Center definitely helped her feel better on Sunday.
“I have had a really bad headache the last few days, probably due to the stale air in my home,” Wan said Sunday. “Since I got here, no headache.”
