Good news if you breathe in the Valley: Rain is on the way

People with breathing problems from wildfire smoke have been suffering for a week, but a storm system should provide a respite for irritated lungs beginning Wednesday.

A winter storm is expected to arrive about noon, with a winter storm watch for the Sierra Nevada extending through Thursday morning. Snow levels above 7,000 feet could be from 6 inches in some spots to more than a foot in others.

On the central San Joaquin Valley floor, rain could start Wednesday morning, but the bulk of the precipitation will be in the afternoon and overnight, said Cindy Bean, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service office in Hanford.

“We’re looking at probably a half-inch to an inch Fresno County and northward in the Valley, and a quarter- to one-half inch south of Fresno County,” she said. The foothills could get up to an inch or more of rain.

For holiday drivers going south over the Grapevine, snow levels should be too high to cause headaches on Wednesday.

On Thursday, a few light showers could make for a cozy Thanksgiving in the Valley. And a break in the clouds on Thursday evening will make driving for travelers easier.

A milder storm system on Friday morning will add only a little to the water table. “We maybe will see a 10th of an inch of rain out of that one,” Bean said. It will be dry again for the weekend.

Clearer skies

But the storms should tamp down smoke from the Camp Fire in Butte County and that’s welcome news for Valley residents who have been breathing soot for a week.

Levels of smoke remained unhealthy Monday in the central San Joaquin Valley. The air quality reached Level 4 – unhealthy for sensitive individuals – in Clovis and Fresno on Monday afternoon. The pollution spiked to a very unhealthy Level 5 in Huron and Tranquillity. A Level 5 smoke reading is unhealthy for everyone.

Breathing smoke causes inflammation in the lungs, and people who have asthma and other respiratory conditions are usually the first to be affected. But the healthy are not immune to tiny particles of soot and ash from wildfires. “I am seeing relatively healthy patients come in with wheezing or other respiratory issues and we are having to use short-term inhalers to get them over this,” said Dr. Jesus Rodriguez, a family physician at Kaiser Permanente Fresno.

Children and the elderly are more at risk from particulate pollution, and Dr. Tanya Bryant, a pediatrician at Clinica Sierra Vista on West Shaw Avenue, has been seeing more children in distress. Children who have had mild or intermittent asthma are now having persistent problems, Bryant said.

Take precaution

Patients who notice shortness of breath or notice the Air Quality Index is very high should take precautions to avoid smoke that can irritate the lungs, she said.

Doctors said flu season has begun. People with asthma are at higher risk of flu complications, such as pneumonia. And a week of smoky skies could have primed some people for problems.

Lungs already inflamed from breathing smoke are more sensitive to infection, Rodriguez said. “It’s now easier for bacteria to hang out there.”