Officials: Worst of smoky skies is over
Health officials and meteorologists say the worst is likely over with regard to the veil of smoke that hung over the Rio Grande Valley early this week, which the National Weather Service said came from wildfires in states around the West, including California, Oregon and Nevada.
Although the haze prompted an airquality warning through 6 a.m. Monday from Albuquerque’s Environmental Health Department, meteorologist David Craft said a cold front that came in from the east helped clear the air a bit.
With “more traditional monsoon flow” and statewide scattered thunderstorms coming this week, he believes things will only continue to improve.
“Generally if we can get some rain, it helps clear out the air,” he said.
Craft estimates smoke could return on Friday, but “not as bad as yesterday,” and it won’t last through the coming weekend.
“We had visibilities drop pretty sharply,” Craft said of the weekend smoke, noting that visibility on Sunday dropped to seven miles in Santa Fe and to about four miles in Albuquerque — places where “when visibility is unrestricted, you can see 30 miles or more.”
Though Craft said visibility in Santa Fe has fallen to as low as three miles before, the problem usually is related to smoke from local fires.
“What’s remarkable about this situation,” he said, “is that the smoke is coming from fires more than 1,000 miles away.”