Murky morning expected to give way to smoky afternoon

Carson Valley residents awoke to another murky morning courtesy of the Mosquito Fire burning 50 miles west of Minden.

Visibility was down to less than a mile for three hours, according to the Minden-Tahoe Airport automated weather system.

“The worst conditions, based on observations, is concentrated around South Lake Tahoe and into the Carson Valley,” forecasters said in a special statement issued this morning. “Visibility is below two miles in smoke through may of these locations.”

Smoke that poured into the Valley on Sunday night obscured the mountains on all sides as air quality plunged into hazardous levels with a gauge in Minden reading 373 at 10 a.m. Monday.

With the fire growing significantly, that’s translating into more smoke in the forecast.

“There will be some improvement mid-morning into the early afternoon for many locations,” forecasters said. “However, another wave of smoke is forecast to push into the region this afternoon and evening similar to Sunday afternoon which will likely lead to additional reductions in visibility and degraded air quality.”

A smoke outlook issued on Monday morning said stronger southwest winds are expected to push smoke levels into Western Nevada, with smoke settling in low spots.

The smoke forecast indicates the possibility of an improvement from very unhealthy to unhealthy today.

The Mosquito fire burned east up the Sierra overnight on Sunday, but cloud cover prevented an infrared flight that would give an update from the 46,587 acres.

That might be why the Fire Information for Resource Management System mapping is indicating the most recent burning occurred hours ago.

The fire is burning up the Sierra along a roughly five-mile front about 26 miles west of Lake Tahoe.

The smoke prompted Douglas County school officials to close Whittell and Zephyr Cove at Lake Tahoe because those schools don’t have sufficient air filtration and conditioning systems to handle the heavy smoke.

Schools in Carson Valley were open, but parents were advised that if they had concerns about sending their children to school, the district would back them.