Smoke Report

I have been asked by some of my loyal readers to give a smoke report for the Reno/Tahoe/Carson area. It seems the local weather people are unwilling to commit to anything. Since I do not get paid to do this, I will tell  you what the models and wind forecasts are telling me.

Let's hope they are wrong.

We have been in a straight southerly flow. That means our winds are straight out of the south. We are due north of the Rim/Yosemite fire and the wind has made a beeline to our area (DA!).

I am seeing a change over that should result in a westerly flow, however, this will be short lived. This could improve conditions slightly for the next 12 hours or so. However we still have a very stubborn ridge of high pressure that does not look like it will move until Labor Day ... sorry. The GFS model has a low pressure system coming into our area. Buyer beware: the more reliable EC model has that system staying further north. In any event, it should be enough to push the smoke out by early next week.

12 Hours ago:
Notice how the winds from the fire went east, cut north and then entered our area from the east.


Right Now:
Our prevailing winds are now out of the west, effectively blocking the smoke from coming into our area. If the winds pick up a bit, we should see some clearing.


12 Hours From Now
Our westerly flow starts to break down which will bring the smoke back in.


Finally, here is a look at next Monday. Notice the low pressure system to our north and west. EC has it staying there and moving out of the picture. If that is the case, we will not get much relief until they put the damn thing out. Unfortunately, they have put too many fires out and not allowed enough logging. Simply put; these fires are tough to contain.





If I see any change in the weather patterns, I will post immediately. However, for now, the smoke is here to stay with just brief periods of relief.

Stay Tuned ...