BOISE, Idaho — A little bit of haze is returning over southern Idaho skies as the air quality is expected to creep into the yellow range on Thursday.
The Idaho Department of Environmental Quality has changed its daily air quality forecast for Thursday and Friday. Earlier Wednesday, they were in the green range, but now the forecasted pollution levels will be yellow, or in the moderate category, but not by much.
Idaho’s Chief Meteorologist Rick Lantz says high pressure is set up across the Pacific Northwest and that means expect more of the early fall weather through the weekend and into early next week with sunny days and clear nights. Winds will be light and temperatures will be 5-10 degrees above normal each day.
Haze will continue to increase into the afternoon hours as the winds remain light.
Smoke may be a bit of a concern. It's going to be coming in at higher levels and then slowly lower down into the valley. That's means we could lose some of our blue skies but our sunsets will likely be a deep orange color.
Most of the smoke is from wildfires in California and is working its way up to the Washington and Oregon coastline and then moving into our area from the west and northwest.
The smoke should not have much effect on the forecast as temperatures should remain anywhere from 5 to 10 degrees above normal through Sunday.
As we look ahead, there is a possibility of a little cooling next week.