Bay Area to be blanketed by another day of dirty air

Another layer of thick haze greeted Bay Area residents with the sunrise early Thursday, but forecasters said the dirty skies weren’t quite as dirty even if they weren’t clean.

The trend will last at least until Friday, according to the Bay Area Air Quality Management District.

The district extended its Spare the Air alert for the region into Friday, marking the third straight day that Bay Area residents can’t burn wood or manufactured fire logs in any wood-burning place such as a fireplace or firepit.

The district has issued nine such days in 2023.

Smoke from wildfires burning in Oregon and in Humboldt and Del Norte counties in Northern California continued to billow toward the region from the coastline Thursday. Yet as dirty as the air seemed to be, it was not quite filled with as many pollutants as there were Wednesday. It was expected to get better progressively as Thursday progressed.

“We do expect air quality to improve more significantly beginning on Saturday, as wind patterns are forecast to move smoke away from the Bay Area,” district spokesperson Kristina Chu said in an email.

By 9 a.m., the district’s Air Quality Index readings showed a region-high of 113 in an area of Pleasanton. A figure from 101-150 means the air is unhealthy for children, seniors and those with breathing issues. Elsewhere, the air quality around the region fell into the moderately healthy range.

On PurpleAir, which offers more up-to-the-minute readings, the highest AQI reading at 10:30 a.m. was 150, near Richmond and Berkeley.

A shift in winds Wednesday into Thursday toward a northwestern direction — meaning they move in a counter-clockwise pattern over the region — created the possibility that more smoke from wild fires burning in southern Oregon and northwest California could billow into the region from the coastline, according to weather forecasters.