Bay Area air improving, but another smoke advisory issued for Sunday

San Jose Mercury News, via the Contra Costa Times: The blanket of wildfire smoke hanging over the Bay Area is lifting gradually, but it is still dense enough that a health advisory urging the public to limit outdoor exercise has been issued for today in the Santa Clara Valley.

Soot concentrations declined across the Bay Area on Saturday, and they may continue to drop today and Monday as forecasters predict westerly winds to become more dominant and sweep pollution out of the region.

"There is an overall but gradual improvement," said Jim Smith, a spokesman for the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. "We hope it continues to get better, but this is subject to a number of considerations, including the state of the wildfires and the wind direction."…

Wrong date, wrong location -- but an evocative picture. Photo of the 2007 wildfire in Southern California by Alex Miroshnichenko from Orange County, California, USA. Wikimedia Commons via Flickr, under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 License