A wooden seal balances the orange ball that is the sun on its nose on Sunday morning in Hope Valley. John Flaherty photo
Genoa, Nev. — It’s another murky morning in Carson Valley, with a few air quality indicators barely in the red while most are reading orange, which is unhealthy for sensitive groups. Visibility at Minden-Tahoe Airport dropped from 10 to 7 miles between 5:35 and 6:35 a.m. today.
The Oak Fire burning 100 miles due south of Gardnerville grew to more than 16,000 acres over the weekend with no containment. The Washburn Fire on Yosemite is 87 percent contained as the 3,000 firefighters working both fires begin to pivot.
Firefighters had a lunch rush on Saturday with a motorcyclist down near Main and Eddy streets in Gardnerville and a girl off a horse down off Highway 88 right around 11. I didn’t hear that either required an ambulance ride. There was a lot of excitement around lunchtime on Friday, too.
It’s going to be hot and smoky this week, with high temperatures in the 90s and air quality in the dumper through at least Wednesday, though I wouldn’t hold my breath, unless I was outside.
Today’s high temperature if forecast to hit 97 degrees. We’ve seen warmer this summer, but not much. The smoke may clear a bit around 1 p.m. as the wind picks up to 5-10 mph in the afternoon.
Kurt Hildebrand is editor of The Record-Courier. Reach him at khildebrand@recordcourier.com or 775-782-5122.
