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Wildfires have ravaged California in recent months, but the San Francisco Bay Area has been largely untouched by the toxic smoke the fires have produced.
That is about to change with northerly winds forecast to push sooty air from the fires burning in the northwestern part of the state in the region, the National Weather Service has said.
“From what I can see, it looks like we are anticipating an increase in smoke in the area as of tonight and tomorrow,” said Drew Peterson, a weather service forecaster.
Peterson said the smoke will likely be light with hazy conditions on Thursday and strong upper winds in the atmosphere could keep the sooty air high.
“How much of that smoke will be high and how much will come to the surface, we don’t know,” Peterson said. “Tomorrow morning is when things could get worse.”
NBC Bay Area Meteorologist Jeff Ranieri has warned Bay Area residents of the smoke on Twitter. “Beware, as wildfires rage uncontrollably across our north and east tonight, the #BayArea is examining the growing risk of #fire smoke over North Bay on Friday morning,” Ranieri wrote.
The smoke will come from two forest fires that burn in the northwest of the state. The monument fire that began on July 30 burned 17,622 acres in Trinity County and the McFarland Fire ignited on July 29 and ravaged 21,038 acres in western Shasta County.
Existing wildfires have exploded and new ones broke out in northern California on Wednesday in dry weather and high winds.
Illustration: SFGATE / Getty ImagesThe Dixie Fire spanning Butte and Plumas counties is the biggest wildfire in California so far this year, but Peterson said smoke from the fire is not expected to impact the area of the San Francisco Bay.
Latest updates on California wildfires
FILE – The San Francisco skyline is barely visible through smoke from wildfires on Wednesday, August 19, 2020, in this view of Sausalito, California.
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