FRESNO (KMJ) — The Central Valley is expected to get cooler this week, with a new band of low pressure coming in from the Pacific Ocean.
The intense heat is set to start dropping off on Wednesday in the Fresno area, with other local cities following a similar trend.
“There’s a weak disturbance passing well to our north. It’s putting a little bit of a dent in this ridge of high pressure,” explains Hanford based National Weather Service meteorologist Dan Hardy. “It’s going to give us a little bit of a break, push us close to normal for mid-July.”
Hardy adds that the low pressure, courtesy of the Pacific Ocean, should also make an impact on local air quality.
“When we do have strong high pressure over us, the air mass is very stagnant so it doesn’t allow us to really get rid of any of the bad air. When we get some kind of an onshore flow, which we are going to see, it helps to bring in some cleaner air from the coast essentially.
“So we’re going to see a little bit of that but it’s not a strong enough system to scour everything out. So there maybe some improvement, especially closer to Merced County and that area,” reveals Hardy.
Blazes such as Wittier Fire just outside Los Padres National Forest, the Schaffer Fire in Sequoia National Forest, and the Detwiler Fire near Lake McClure, are all adding to the poor local air quality.
“The San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District continues to have us under an air quality alert due to smoke from surrounding fires.”
Hear the report from KMJ’s Dominic McAndrew as it aired:
