A heat wave that rolled through through the Bay Area for a couple of days and fouled up the air was history by Sunday. But the air quality Monday was only slightly better.
Blame it on wildfires in Canada and the weather pattern that took the heat away.
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“A fair amount of smoke is coming down from central Canada,” National Weather Service meteorologist Brayden Murdock said Monday morning. “The low pressure from the trough that came down the Pacific Northwest and ended the hot weather is pulling it toward us.”
The pull of the foul air to Northern California was significant enough that the Bay Area Air District issued an air quality advisory. According to AirNow, a federal air-quality measuring app that measures air quality in real time, the air quality at 8:30 a.m. through much of the region was only moderately healthy.
Forecasters were waiting to see how the smoke may affect the region as the week continues. The wildfires began burning last week in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan.
More than 25,000 residents in three provinces have been evacuated as dozens of wildfires remain active, according to the Associated Press. Most of the evacuated residents were from Manitoba, which declared a state of emergency last week. About 17,000 people there were evacuated by Saturday along with 1,300 in Alberta. About 8,000 people in Saskatchewan had been relocated as leaders there warned the number could climb.
“We’re not in the strong part of the wind current,” Murdock said. “And it’s not becoming trapped, so we’re not slowing it down at all. The pattern will be the same. When (the smoke) arrives, it’s going to be transferred right on out.”
As for the weather pattern, it’s expected to stay the same through the entire week, Murdock said. The conditions that existed Monday — smoggy but otherwise clear with temperatures expected to not to get out of the 70s, except in far eastern Contra Costa County and Livermore in far eastern Alameda County — are expected to remain that way at least through the weekend. Temperatures by Saturday may creep up 3-5 degrees and more of the region will be in the 80s, according to the weather service.
