Smoke Should Clear By Wednesday Afternoon

It's going to be a bit smoky today and into tomorrow around Douglas County. By Wednesday afternoon west winds should start clearing the smoke out of the area again. Here is the latest forecast discussion from the NWS in Medford: Smoke continues to impact a large portion of the forecast area as wildfires continue to burn in Douglas, Siskiyou, and Lake Counties. Lots of smoke accumulated across the forecast area yesterday, with southerly winds bringing smoke from California wildfires northward, and this smoke will be slow to exit our forecast area. Deep layer winds will maintain some southerly component to them today, and the HRRR smoke model keeps thick smoke around for portions of Siskiyou, Modoc, Jackson, Eastern Douglas, Klamath, and Lake Counties. A stronger westerly push of winds should bring improved air quality to most of these areas (away from wildfires) on Wednesday as an upper trough moves overhead. With the upper trough approaching, expect afternoon breezes in most areas this afternoon with a tick upwards in wind speeds on Wednesday. A rather persistent upper troughing pattern will keep temperatures near to slightly below normal through Friday, maintaining breezy conditions and occasionally bringing some marine stratus clouds to the coast and Umpqua Basin (possible Wednesday/Thursday morning but most likely Friday morning). This could be a welcome feature for the firefighting efforts in Douglas County. Unfortunately, this moisture will likely not be as robust for California wildfires. Some warming is likely Saturday into Sunday as upper troughing pushes to the east and gives way to weak upper ridging. Latest operational models and ensemble members don`t show much of a signal for a strong east wind event, with an upper trough pushing more west to east than north to south, but some increased northerly and easterly flow is possible Saturday morning behind the upper trough moving through. The majority of ensembles show a return to upper troughing late next week.