Don’t expect the smoke to disperse anytime soon. But Sam Longmire, with the Northern Sierra Air Quality Management District, says Nevada County has not been in the “hazardous” range, although that’s still considered “unhealthy”…

And as long as the wildfires burn, the National Weather Service expects conditions to stay about the same, and maybe even get worse at times, at least through the weekend, and likely into next week. Longmire says it would likely take a shift to atmospheric low pressure from a storm system that doesn’t necessarily have to produce rain, which at least brings some strong south breezes…

But without a strong breeze, smoke that was suspended in higher elevations will drop lower to ground level.