08.18.07
Smoke plume from wildfire cools Kern
smokey sunOriginally uploaded by andynoise
Smoke plume from wildfire cools Kern
Zaca blaze helps make typically hot month feel more like spring
BY KEVIN GERRITY, Californian staff writer
e-mail: kgerrity@bakersfield.com | Friday, Aug 17 2007 10:25 PM
Last Updated: Friday, Aug 17 2007 10:44 PM
Do you like the cooler weather we’ve had so far this August? Well, you can thank the Zaca fire, which had burned about 155,445 acres in the Los Padres National Forest as of Friday.
Photos:
Photo by Casey Christie
A smoky afternoon sun is seen heading west in Bakersfield Thursday due to the Zaca Fire still burning since July 4.
Terry Morse, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said the enormous plume of smoke from the 6-week-old wildfire has created a massive sunblock.
In turn, Morse said, temperatures have dropped in Bakersfield and the San Joaquin Valley this August.
Morse saw the drop as a blessing: “I hate the heat.”
The veteran meteorologist noted the irony behind the raging Zaca fire in Santa Barbara County, costing roughly $78.7 million since lightning sparked it July 4.
“You’ve got to take the bad with the good,” Morse said.
Under normal conditions, August in Bakersfield is brutal. Residents often suffer through mind-melting temperatures of 100 degrees or more, Morse said.
These days, he said, the weather in Bakersfield and much of the valley has been charitable, with temperatures ranging usually from the high 80s to the mid-90s.
“I’m used to seeing 100 degrees in August,” Morse said.
In addition to the Zaca fire smoke canopy, cool air coming in from the Pacific has contributed to the lower temperatures, according to Miles Muzio, chief meteorologist at KBAK 29 Eyewitness News.
Apart from the cooler days, air quality for the most part in Bakersfield has been considerably better this summer than the ghastly conditions last summer, according to Brenda Turner, public information officer for the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District.
Even though the air pollution control district issued an air quality alert Tuesday stemming from Zaca ash, Turner said the Bakersfield area has had little exposure in recent days.
She said the air quality index this summer has ranged from a high moderate reading to a low unhealthy reading for sensitive groups.
Friday’s air quality index was predicted to reach a low moderate reading of 54, which is unusual for August.
In explaining the air quality index, weather experts have said a reading of zero is good, whereas a reading of 75 is moderate. As the levels surge into the 100s and higher, health risks are greater.
To further describe the improved air quality conditions this summer, Turner said the air pollution district has declared only five “Spare the Air” days.
By this time last year, Turner said, the district had declared more than 20 “Spare the Air” days.
During such periods, residents are urged to limit their outdoor activities, especially during the afternoon and evening hours as the smog reaches its highest levels.
The district also advises, among other precautions, that people carpool on such days, run all errands at one time and avoid using gas-powered lawn equipment.
That has been less of a concern this summer in Bakersfield.
Yet, in Santa Barbara County, where firefighters have contained 61 percent of the Zaca blaze, public health authorities as of Friday were advising schools to limit how much time students spend outside to lessen the exposure to ash and smoke.
Fire officials said Friday they still expect to contain the fire by Sept. 7.
In the last week or so, the fire moved to within 16 miles of the southwest corner of Kern County, said Tony Diffenbaugh of the Kern County Fire Department.
Diffenbaugh said most of the activity was in the southeast portion of the blaze and, as things stood Friday, posed little threat to Kern County.
About 70 Kern County firefighters and department managers were working the blaze Friday, Diffenbaugh said.
He said two county crews were battling the southeast portion of the wildfire just west of Highway 33 in the Ozena area.
A third crew, Diffenbaugh said, was positioned on the fire’s northern edge in the wilderness.
BY THE NUMBERS
Acres burned: 155,445
Percent contained: 61
Expected containment: Sept. 7
Injuries: 29
Structures threatened: 595
Destroyed: 1 outbuilding
People fighting blaze: 2,958
Equipment: 121 engines, 21 helicopters, 8 air tankers
Suppression costs: $78.7 million
Information: www.sbcfire.com or www.fs.fed.us/r5/lospadres/
Sources: Los Padres National Forest and Santa Barbara County Fire Department
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