Distant blaze leaves smoky smell, haze
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — For two weeks a dull haze and the faint smell of smoke from distant blazes have blanketed many California cities, forcing summer campers to stay inside, obscuring normally bright skylines and leaving cars covered with ash.
Smoky air from blowing winds is nothing new in California, but air quality experts say it’s rare for the dirty air to linger for so long, a reality of ever-larger fires that take longer to extinguish.
The haze stretches from the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountain range to Sacramento and hovers over the San Francisco Bay Area, with most major population centers in between suffering air quality that’s considered dangerous for children, the elderly and people with asthma or other respiratory conditions.
There are two major wildfires — one called the Mendocino Complex Fire that is the largest in California history — burning more than 100 miles north of Sacramento and another huge fire near Yosemite National Park a little farther to the southeast. Firefighters made significant progress against the Mendocino Complex for the first time Wednesday but said the blazes will likely continue through September. The fires have combined to produce unhealthy air that has drifted as far east as Salt Lake City, 450 miles away.
The skies there were so murky that residents couldn’t even see the nearby mountain range that rises over the valley earlier this week. Utah air quality officials warned children and seniors to limit time outside.
The skies cleared a bit on Wednesday in Utah’s capital city, but more smoke is expected to blow in over the weekend, National Weather Service meteorologist Steve Rogowski said.
Thursday marked the Sacramento region’s 14th straight “Spare the Air” day, when people are encouraged not to drive and add further pollutants to the air — the longest stretch since at least 2001. A similar warning is effect in the San Francisco Bay Area, and air quality experts in California’s Central Valley and areas southeast of Los Angeles are warning residents to limit outdoor exposure because of wildfires there.
Sac United, a competitive youth soccer club, has cancelled four practices in the past two weeks because of poor air quality. High school sports teams are being similarly conscious of dangerous air as practices get underway.
Sacramento residents have taken to Twitter to share photos of a dark grey sky hanging over the Capitol in midafternoon and a city skyline difficult to make out.
Lori Kobza, spokeswoman for the Sacramento Air Quality Management District, said it’s hard to predict when things will improve because of the unpredictably of the fires and the winds.
Because the city is located in a valley, it’s easier for smoky air to get trapped, making Sacramento like a smoke-filled bowl that’s had a lid placed tightly on top.
“We’re all trapped in it,” Kobza said.