dixie fire

‘Bad News, Y'all': NWS Forecasts Smoke for San Diego

NWS San Diego

Prevailing winds will carry smoke southward from the Dixie Fire and other blazes in the west during the next few days, according to the National Weather Service (NWS).

Growing explosively at times, the Dixie Fire has scorched 890 square miles (2,305 square kilometers) in the northern Sierra Nevada and southern Cascades since it ignited on July 13 and eventually merged with a smaller blaze called the Fly Fire.

Ongoing damage surveys have counted more than 1,100 buildings destroyed, including 625 homes. More than 14,000 structures remained threatened. Numerous evacuation orders were in effect.

On Monday, the NWS San Diego tweeted out that smoke would be headed toward San Diego on Monday and Tuesday.

"Most of the smoke will be higher up in the atmosphere and not near the surface," the tweet read, in part. "Expect some of those brown, hazy skies the next couple days, especially on [Tuesday]."

From the NWS forecast, however, it seems possible that parts of San Diego won't see much of the smoke for very long.

"The combination of developing cyclonic flow in the low levels and deeper moisture currently off the coast of Baja will result in a very deep marine layer beginning late Tuesday night," the NWS San Diego forecast reads, adding that there are indicators for "the potential for light rain and drizzle to impact the coast/valleys and offshore waters beginning late Tuesday night and lasting through at least Thursday, including the relatively uncommon occurrence of measurable precipitation in late August."

Sheena Parveen's Morning Forecast for Monday, Aug. 16, 2021.

Climate change has made the U.S. West warmer and drier in the past 30 years and will continue to make the weather more extreme and wildfires more destructive, according to scientists.

The Dixie Fire, which is the second-largest ever in the Golden State, was among 97 large, active wildfires burning in the United States on Monday, the National Interagency Fire Center said. More than 25,000 firefighters, support personnel and management teams were assigned to the blazes.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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