Seeing smoke? You’re not alone.

Air quality in the Sacramento region has become dangerous for some groups due to California wildfires

Claire Morgan - The State Hornet

Thick smoke can be seen in the air next to the riverfront center on Monday Aug 6. Smoke has drifted from Northern California wildfires into the region and made air quality in the Sacramento Valley dangerous for some groups of people.

Claire Morgan, editor-in-chief
August 8, 2018

Smoke from California wildfires has caused air quality in the Sacramento Valley — including at Sacramento State — to decrease significantly.

The list of large scale fires burning for more than a week is much longer than normal: the Carr Fire in Redding is 173,522 acres (271 square miles), the Complex Fire in Mendocino — the largest wildfire in California’s history — is now 300,086 acres (469 square miles), and the Ferguson Fire near Yosemite is 94,992 acres (148 square miles) as of 7 a.m. Wednesday, according to Cal Fire.

An unsigned campus-wide email from Risk Management Services has urged the campus community — especially those who fall into the range of sensitive individuals: children, older adults and those with respiratory problems — to stay indoors.

“Any work on campus that generates additional air particles such as leaf blowing should be postponed until later in the week,” the message said. “Reducing your time spent outdoors is helpful if you are a sensitive individual. Sensitive individuals should reduce strenuous outdoor activity, including athletic activity.”

 

The Sacramento region’s Tuesday air quality level was recorded at 151: unhealthy for all groups, according to Sacramento Region Spare the Air.

Sacramento Air Quality Management District predicts that air quality will remain dangerous for sensitive individuals for the rest of the week, and Spare the Air days have been ordered through Wednesday. El Dorado and Placer counties are expected to have dangerous air quality levels throughout the weekend as well.

Northern California does not have a single cloud in the atmosphere, according to weather scientist Daniel Swain. The overcast appearance of the sky from San Francisco all the way to Lake Tahoe is solely due to the fires raging across the upper half of the state.