Wildfire smoke moves to the Bay Area and Central Valley out of Oregon and Washington, where wildfires continue to rage.
Sacramento Bee
If you were lucky enough to catch a glimpse of sunrise this morning, it was a spooky sight. Smoke has changed the color of the sky, and that may be here to stay this week.
The smoke Tuesday comes not from California, but from our neighbors to the north. Wildfires in the Pacific Northwest continue to rage – with portions of Spokane, Washington, burned amid the fast-racing Spokane Complex Fires, which began over the weekend. In Oregon, wildfires over the past several weeks have darkened skies and reduced air quality across the northern U.S. and Midwest.
As California’s heat wave begins to decay this week, the lower of atmospheric pressure over the state has pulled some of that smoke southward to the Golden State.
Sacramento Bee
The majority of this smoke comes to California out of the north via the Pacific Ocean, where a smaller region of low pressure has captured more of this smoke closer to the surface, and drifted down unimpeded close to the Bay Area.
Over the next several days, this region of low pressure will funnel smoke through the Bay and into the Delta, where it will spread to the Central Valley cities of Sacramento, Stockton, Merced and Modesto. The most smoky times will likely be the evening — when the Delta breeze can carry that smoke inland.
This will make for noticeably hazier skies, with skies around sunrises and sunsets having a burnt orange hue as smoke scatters incoming light rays.
Smoke from fires burning in Washington and Oregon has drifted into Northern California. SEAN MACADAY sean.macaday@sacbee.com
Air quality impacts will noticeable but rather minimal
Despite the smoke actually being closer to the ground, there actually won’t be enough of it to lead to a hazardous dip in air quality.
As of mid-Tuesday, air quality across mid-Central Valley was between 40-60 on the Air Quality Index — right at the border between “good” and “moderate” on the scale. The air quality can be expected to dip slightly more over the coming days as values could reach 70 or 80, but the decline will not be not enough to require precautions. That could change if other fires were to start, and could continue to change by the weekend as fires in Oregon and Washington continue to burn.
A red flag warning has been issued for portions of Northern California on Wednesday evening. Sacramento Bee, NWS Growing fire risk in Northern California
As temperatures continue to bake much of Northern California with triple degree heat this week, portions of the state closer to Oregon will be at particularly risk for spreading fire amid dry east winds and falling humidity.
Portions of the Klamath, Shasta, Trinity national forests in Siskiyou County are under a red flag warning tomorrow from 2 p.m. to 9 p.m. Fire there could spread rapidly. Conditions in the Sacramento region are expected to remain at risk for fire through the weekend.
Meanwhile the Gann Fire, which started Monday evening, continues to grow in Calaveras County, 35 miles east of Stockton near Copperopolis. This fire will lead to a meaningful dip in air quality along the Sierra foothills over the coming days as smoke becomes trapped along the mountains.
The Gann Fire, which was at zero containment as of Tuesday morning, has burned more than 3,000 acres near New Hogan Lake. Sacramento Bee
This story was originally published August 4, 2026 at 11:45 AM.
The Sacramento Bee
Sean Macaday covers the weather for McClatchy Media in California. Originally from Chicago, Sean worked 6 years covering the weather on local television in Minnesota. He holds a bachelor’s degree in meteorology and marine science from the University of Miami.