Rain, wind expected to clear smoky skies
Northern California’s first major rainstorm since spring can’t come soon enough, as a cold, wet front moving into the region overnight Tuesday was expected to clear the Bay Area’s smoky air and quell the deadliest wildfire in state history.
Fine particles in the air from the Camp Fire — a blaze that has burned 152,250 acres and killed 81 people north of Sacramento — have kept the region under a red alert, which rates air quality as unhealthy. Winds from the incoming cold front were expected to clear the smoke ahead of rain Wednesday morning.
Ann Shadwick, a Pacifica resident, said she would welcome the chance to take off her respiratory mask and breathe freely. Sitting on a bench Tuesday morning in San Francisco’s Jessie Square, Shadwick donned an N95 mask as she waited for the Contemporary Jewish Museum to open.
“We desperately need rain,” she said. “I just hope it’s the beginning of a whole lot of storms. I’d rather be complaining about too much
rain than not enough.”
Shadwick first bought a 20-pack of N95 masks last year during the Tubbs Fire in Santa Rosa, but she said the smoke this year seemed much worse.
Strong southerly winds are expected to push the pollution out of the area, improving air-quality levels for the rest of the week, said Simrun Dhoot, a spokeswoman for the Bay Area Air Quality Management District.
However, Dhoot noted, wind — not necessarily rain — causes smoke to dissipate.
“Rain takes about 10 percent of pollution out of the air,” she said.
Officials at the air-quality agency forecast the air quality to be in the moderate range for most areas Wednesday through Friday, which is its typical range this time of year, Dhoot said. The air district extended a Spare the Air alert through Wednesday because pockets of the East Bay could see air-quality levels that are unhealthy for sensitive groups.
The Bay Area hasn’t had moderate air quality since before the Camp Fire started Nov. 8.
Odell Pyles, who works traffic control by Moscone Center, said he decided against wearing a protective mask the past week because he used to fight forest fires with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Prevention and had grown accustomed to the smoke.
As he walked through Yerba Buena Gardens on a break Tuesday, Pyles said he looked forward to the clearer air.
“The rain’s really going to clear it up,” he said. “We’ll be back to fresh air, and that’s what we need.”
Meteorologists expect two systems to flow through the Bay Area: one beginning late Tuesday night through Wednesday, and one Thursday night into Friday. In total, the storms should bring around 3 inches of rain to the North Bay, close to 2 inches to the Santa Cruz Mountains and around an inch to the rest of the Bay Area.
Skiers won’t be left out of the storm. Up to a foot of snow is forecast for Donner Pass, Echo Summit and Carson Pass, all in the Lake Tahoe region that has received scant snowfall, said National Weather Service meteorologist Steve Anderson.
Rain in the Bay Area could cause a chaotic commute during the heaviest downpours Wednesday between 5 and 9 a.m., Anderson said.
“It’s going to be a messy getaway drive. Whenever you leave, all the roads will be wet. Airports will likely have delays,” he said. “Just practice patience and anticipate a slow drive.”
The rain will be a mixed blessing in the Camp Fire burn zone, where moisture will help firefighters battle a blaze that’s already 75 percent contained, but also could complicate efforts to find and recover human remains. It also could trigger destructive mudslides.
The Weather Service issued flash flood watches for the recently burned areas of the Camp Fire, as well as the Carr and Mendocino Complex fires from earlier this year, because of the ash and debris buildup.
“When you get intense rain on top of recently burned areas, that’s where you can see debris flow and where you can have a significant amount of dirt, rock and water coming down on slopes,” said Eric Kurth, a meteorologist for the Weather Service. “That can get washed onto roads or into streams and cause issues.”