Deadly wildfires create dangerous air quality in California
Forecasted rain expected to help clear the air in the Bay Area; insight from Mike Mohler, deputy director of communications for Cal Fire.
A smoke forecast from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Monday said wind could carry smoke from the deadly California wildfires across the nation reaching as far as Dallas and Virginia, depending on wind direction, according to The Dallas Morning News.
Lamont Bain, a National Weather Service meteorologist, advised that it is only one forecast, saying even if the smoke were to carry east, "it should disperse as it carries," The Morning News reported.
“You might see some light haze, but we’re not putting anything about it in the [weather] forecast,” he said.
Bain said the NWS doesn't think the forecast is "any cause for concern" right now, the report said.
Last week, smoke from the California fires reached Michigan, according to Michigan Radio.
Sara Pampreen, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Detroit, said the jet stream is carrying the smoke from the wildfires, according to the radio station.
“Smoke gets so high up in the air and the jet stream takes it up and it’s actually positioned right over us,” Pampreen said.
She said it's not unusual for smoke from major western wildfires to reach the Great Lakes region, but said changing weather fronts will move the smoke out.
Since the Camp Fire in Paradise of Northern California broke out on Nov. 8, communities in the Sacramento Valley and Bay Area have had some of the dirtiest air in the world, The Los Angeles Times reported, citing Purple Air, an air quality-monitoring network. The San Francisco Chronicle also cited Purple Air, reporting that Northern California has had the dirtiest in the world since last Thursday, topping India and China (both cities notorious for its smog).
Data from the Bay Area Air Quality Management District showed local air quality levels in the "very unhealthy" range, according to The Chronicle.
Berkeley resident Micha Oliver has a son, 5, that suffers from asthma, the report said.
“We are loading up our car and getting out,” she told the paper. “The air is getting worse and worse. I wouldn’t want a regular 5-year-old boy breathing this air, let alone one with severe asthma.”