Smoke haze to stick around for a while

Though it might not catch much attention on a daily basis, the usual blue skies of eastern New Mexico have given way to a few weeks of on-and-off haze due to ongoing fires outside of the Land of Enchantment.

While air quality here is not adversely affected, long-burning fires in California, Oregon and Colorado have resulted plenty of days with a grayish-yellow cloud coverage.

“The latest runs of the HRRR (High-Resolution Rapid Refresh) smoke continue to transport smoke from the wildfires across the western CONUS (continental United States) into eastern NM. This smoke will all be upper-level smoke,” the National Weather Service reported Thursday.

On Friday afternoon the NWS forecasted that the smoke haze would remain for some time. While air quality has been a concern for residents in those states where the smoke originated, but by the time the smoke reaches New Mexico it has found its way to the upper levels.

The National Interagency Fire Center said as of Thursday nearly 2.5 million acres in California had been burned in wildfires. That’s more than 57 times the 43,417 acres Cal Fire, California’s official fire department, reported burned in wildfires between Jan. 1 and Sept. 15 last year.

In Oregon over half a million residents have been ordered to evacuate with that number expected to increase. Cal Fire had recorded 26 deaths from the fires this year, but the total fire-related deaths for all of the impacted states is unknown.

“This could be the greatest loss of human lives and property due to wildfires in our state’s history,” Oregon Gov. Kate Brown said Sept. 9.

Also, the National Weather Service reported the weather radar at Cannon Air Force Base will be out of service for maintenance this week.

Repairs are scheduled for Monday through Friday to the radome — the top portion of the radar whose shape and color is similar to a golf ball. The NWS said during the maintenance radar could not be used for storms, but the forecast calls for sunny skies and highs in the 80s throughout the week.

Attempts to contact officials at Cannon were unsuccessful.