How long will SLO County be covered in smoke? Here’s a look at the forecast
San Luis Obispo County will continue to suffer under a blanket of smoke at least through Friday and possibly into the weekend, PG&E meteorologist John Lindsey told The Tribune on Thursday.
Winds from the northwest are driving the thick, hazardous haze from the Monterey County fires to the Central Coast, Lindsey said.
It’s so bad, North County towns registered the worst air quality in the world on Thursday, according to the air quality monitoring company IQAir.
At one point Thursday, Paso Robles, San Miguel, Atascadero and Lake Nacimiento held the top four spots for the worst air quality in the nation.
The smoke was so think Thursday, it reduced visibility to only a few blocks on Spring Street.
Lindsey said that national weather models showed the mass of smoke collecting along the Central Coast.
“Smoke cover can be hard to predict over a number of days, but over the next day or two, and likely beyond, we should prepare for poor air quality,” he said. “It is very unusual to have smoke spread across the region so broadly, as it is now. This is some of the worst air quality we’ve seen.”
Lindsey said that the forecast calls for continuing hot weather, including in the triple digits in Paso Robles, with a projected high of 104 Friday, 101 on Saturday and into the 90s on Sunday.
Smoke cover has helped lower the temperatures a bit by blocking the penetrating heat of the sun over the past couple of days, Lindsey said.
“Paso Robles made it up to 99 degrees Wednesday because of the extensive cloud cover,” he said. “But without the smoke, it could have been hotter.”
Muggy weather forecast for weekend
High temperatures in San Luis Obispo will be in the 80s and 90s over the next few days, with SLO reaching 90 on Thursday morning. Temperatures will drop to the 80s over the weekend.
High temperatures along the coast — including Avila Beach, Shell Beach and Pismo Beach — will be in the 70s and 80s, cooling into the weekend.
Muggy conditions will arrive this weekend when tropical moisture moves through the area, Lindsey said.
Gale force winds out of the northwest of up to 38 miles per hour are expected through Friday and could help reduce some of the haze covering SLO County by pushing smoke out, Lindsey said.
Three fires burning in Monterey County
But those same winds also could fan some of the flames of the multiple fires taking place in Monterey County, Lindsey warned.
Those include the River Fire of more than 33,000 acres south of Salinas and the Carmel Fire of more than 4,000 acres.
Yet another blaze in Big Sur, the Dolan Fire, is now at 2,500 acres with zero containment.
Winds will drop to speeds of up to 18 miles per hour over the weekend, which could help firefighters control the blazes, Lindsey said.
“Northwesterly flow (pushing fire smoke to the south) is quite common in the summer,” Lindsey said.
Lindsey said an annual SLO County siren test will take place Saturday at 12 p.m. and again at 12:30 p.m. But people shouldn’t be alarmed. Sirens will sound off for three minutes each time.
“I think this year, people might be startled when they hear it, given everything that’s going on,” Lindsey said. “But it’s just the planned test, and no action is required.”
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