Thursday’s Discussion: Wildfire smoke and thunderstorms
What's responsible for the orange/brown skies overhead? It's smoke from wildfires in Central California being pushed south. As of this afternoon, air quality around the desert has been in the 'good' to 'moderate' range. Most of it is remaining aloft in our atmosphere and will continue to hover into Friday.
A Special Air Quality Advisory has been issued by South Coast Air Quality Management District. This includes the Coachella Valley and surrounding mountains through Friday afternoon.
A First Alert Weather Alert has been issued for Friday as thunderstorm development will increase over local mountains and deserts. Expect radar to become active around noon. Where these storms develop, rainfall amounts exceeding a tenth of an inch are possible. Gusty winds associated with the storms are likely.
The Storm Prediction Center includes the Coachella Valley in the risk for general thunderstorms. No severe thunderstorms are expected. Be aware that lightning and flooding threats exist with all thunderstorms.
When there's the threat of severe weather, you can depend on frequent updates on social media and on the KESQ website. Do you have the KESQ First Alert app? You can monitor radar in real-time. Download for free here.
