SACRAMENTO COUNTY, Calif. — Red flag fire conditions helped multiple fires start in Northern California over the last few days. They're also spreading smoke and haze in the sky.
Smoke forecasting is a relatively new product from the National Weather Service and is modeled on existing established fires as well as wind direction and speed throughout the day.
Northern California is well-known for many wind shifts during the day and can often see more erratic wind closer to the fire when it creates its own localized weather changes.
The Sites Fire near Maxwell burned several thousand acres by Tuesday and should produce more smoke and haze as it continues to burn with red flag conditions Tuesday morning, then stronger winds from the west in the afternoon.
We are expecting smoke and haze to continue to drift south of the fire for much of the morning, then smoke should move east with the winds and bring hazy skies to the valley locations.
Smoke is moving in a vertical environment and while modeling is very good at general direction and density, it's more difficult to see how much smoke will make it to the ground level and become a health issue.
During the heat of the day and the most active fire conditions, the smoke typically rises and remains aloft until it hits terrain of similar elevation.
It's possible smoke will drift over valley locations during the day and affect more higher elevations, then move down overnight to the valley floor as the wind calms and the temperatures lower.
Expect the plume of smoke and haze to move east later in the day then south during the morning hours. The level of smoke Wednesday will depend on how much progress is made fighting the fire.
For the Aero Fire, we expect a similar forecast with southerly movement early then east in the late afternoon.
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