Is Rain Coming to Clean Up Valley's Dusty, Smoky Air?

By gvwire

Published 6 years ago on

October 31, 2019

With an air quality alert in effect this week, the central San Joaquin Valley could use a good soaking.
Unfortunately, the earliest possibility of rain for the Fresno area, according to Accuweather, isn’t until Saturday, Nov. 9.

Listen to this article:
Audio Player

00:00

Use Up/Down Arrow keys to increase or decrease volume.

And even then, the odds aren’t very good with just an 11% chance of precipitation.
The forecasters at The Weather Channel offer a little more hope. They predict a 10% chance on Sunday, Nov. 10, and 30% on Monday, Nov. 11.

Cal-trans webcam of Interstate 5 and Highway 99 split showing the lowered visibility due to blowing dust down at the south-end of the San Joaquin Valley this morning. #CAwx pic.twitter.com/KKAWPaEYGy

— NWS Hanford (@NWSHanford) October 30, 2019

Limit Your Exposure to Smoke and Dust

Meanwhile, the Valley Air District reminds residents that they should limit their exposure to smoke and dust.
Smoke from the Kincade Fire in Sonoma County and dust from gusty winds continue to hurt the Valley’s air quality.
Anyone exposed to poor air quality or wildfire smoke should move indoors and keep their windows closed.

Time lapse of the #KincadeFire Very active fire behavior fueled by strong and gusty winds. Notice the cam is shaking too. View is from Mt St Helena #cawx #cafire pic.twitter.com/gwqXG9CzYM

— NWS Bay Area (@NWSBayArea) October 27, 2019

How to Track Air Quality

Residents can use the district’s Real-time Air Advisory Network to track the air quality at myRAAN.com.
However, the air district advises that the RAAN monitors detect the small particles in smoke but not the larger particles often found in dust and smoke.
“If an area is covered in ash or dust, (the) air quality should be considered unhealthy even if the monitor reflects a lower reading” than RAAN Level 4 or higher, the district said in a news release Monday.
Residents also can access air quality conditions by downloading the free Valley Air app at the Apple Store or Google Play.