Seeing hazy skies in SLO County? Here’s why and when conditions will improve
Wildfire smoke is tinting San Luis Obispo County skies orange, and the conditions may last throughout the week.
Smoke from Northern Californian fires — the 569,707-acre Dixie Fire in Plumas County, the 97,287-acre Monument Fire in Trinity County and various others — has drifted into the county as the blazes continue to burn and produce significant smoke that has blown across the United States.
Despite the dim light, air quality remains good throughout most of San Luis Obispo County.
“The smoke has been really high up in the atmosphere,” said Meghan Field, San Luis Obispo County Air Pollution Control District public information officer and air quality specialist. “So when it’s like that, it will cause some hazy skies. But it’s not down at the ground level where it would be really impacting public health.”
That being said, Field also noted that there are higher concentrations of smoke in the northern parts of San Luis Obispo County such as Atascadero. That’s caused some of the county’s air quality sensors to detect higher levels of particulate matter in the atmosphere.
“It’s still pretty moderate, though,” she added. “It’s not anything significant at this point.”
According to AirNow, a government-run website that provides detailed air quality monitoring data around the United States, North County areas and the Carrizo Plain area have moderate air quality as of midday Monday.
The county Air Pollution Control District predicts these conditions may persist in these areas throughout the week. By the end of this week, however, increasing onshore winds are expected to change and clear the smoke out, according to the APCD.
Air quality conditions in the county likely won’t cause concern for most residents, Field said, as the smoke is staying high in the atmosphere.
To monitor the air quality near you, Field said you can visit their website at slocleanair.org, or AirNow’s fire and smoke map at fire.airnow.gov. The San Luis Obispo County Air Pollution Control District will release any alerts on air quality via its website, Twitter in English and Spanish, and on Facebook.
This story was originally published August 16, 2021 at 12:39 PM.
