California wildfires caused smoky skies and dramatic sunsets Wednesday, as the Santa Barbara County Air Pollution Control District issued an air quality warning for the next several days.
In addition to smoke causing moderate and unhealthy readings for particulate levels in some areas, high temperatures and stagnant air conditions caused increased ozone levels in parts of the county Wednesday evening, according to the APCD.
Hourly air quality updates are available on the agency website here.
There were dozens of fires burning around California as of Wednesday, including ones in Monterey, San Luis Obispo and Ventura counties.
“If you see or smell smoke in the air, be cautious and use common sense to protect your and your family’s health,” APCD’s warning said. “Everyone, especially people with heart or lung disease (including asthma), older adults, pregnant women, and children, should limit time spent outdoors and avoid outdoor exercise when high concentrations of smoke and particles are in the air.”
APCD noted that cloth face coverings do not adequately protect against inhaling wildfire smoke, while N-95 masks offer meaningful protection if worn properly.
“However, due to COVID-19, N-95 masks are in extremely short supply and should be reserved for frontline workers. For this reason, to the extent possible, people should stay indoors when wildfire smoke is present as opposed to wearing an N-95 mask or a cloth face covering and going outside,” APCD said.
Click here to read the entire air quality warning from the APCD.
The National Weather Service has issued multiple heat-related advisories and warnings in the past week, including an Excessive Heat Warning for the Santa Ynez Valley on Wednesday, with high temperatures in the 98-108-degree range. The warning is downgraded to an advisory for Thursday, when the high is expected to hit 100 degrees.
The Lompoc Valley and Santa Maria Valley have heat advisories in effect through Thursday, in addition to forecasts of “patchy smoke.”
California implemented rotating power outages over the weekend because of high demand on the state’s electrical grid, but avoided shutoffs on Monday and Tuesday.
There are possible other days this week, and utility companies are urging customers to conserve energy as much as possible by using large appliances and air conditioning earlier in the day to avoid peak demand times, between 3 p.m. and 10 p.m.
— Noozhawk managing editor Giana Magnoli can be reached at gmagnoli@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.