New California fire generates little smoke in Carson Valley

Smoke from the Peak Fire 28 miles northeast of Tuolomne wafted into Carson Valley on Thursday evening, though it doesn’t appear to have affected air quality this far north.

Officially, the fire grew from 35 acres to 311 acres since it was first reported on Wednesday.  Satellite mapping shows heat over around 800 acres as of this morning.

Air quality in Markleeville was in the moderate range at 51, down from a peak of 61 at 5 a.m. The air quality meter at Ranchos Aspen Park was well in the good range.

“The Peak fire west of the Sierra crest near Strawberry is
producing some degraded air quality mainly for northern Mono
County, and areas of moderate air quality into Mineral and southern Lyon County, which will likely remain present through much of this morning,” Reno Meteorologist Mark Deutschendorf said early Friday.

Forecast west winds this afternoon will likely send smoke from the fire due east into Mineral County today.

The weekend forecast is for temperatures to cool slightly into the mid-80s.

“For those who are looking for this ‘October summer’ to depart,
there is low-medium confidence for more notable cooling to arrive
by late next week with a more potent storm reaching the West
Coast,” Deutschendorf said. “This may even come with some rain chances, although the
storm's track currently favors the best moisture for the Pacific
Northwest, with lighter showers extending farther south into
northeast California and Northwest Nevada and possibly to near I-80. Winds would also be on the increase as this system approaches, with the peak gust speeds also dependent on the resulting storm track.”