Why Is Boise Spared From California’s Devastating Wildfire Smoke?

With the wildfires raging in Southern California, you might wonder why we can't see or smell the smoke like usual. The answer is pretty scientific, so we've broken it down the simplest way possible.

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The fires in the Los Angeles area are driven by strong winds and dry conditions. While the cause of the fire hasn't been determined, it would be easy to lump this in with all of the other violent tragedies we've seen recently. However, the LAFD has said that this fire was not the result of arson and was not set intentionally or unintentionally by human activity.

Why does it seem like Boise always gets California wildfire smoke?

It seems like we always get the smoke from California wildfires because, in the past few years, our air quality has been greatly affected by wildfires. Some were from California, and others were from Oregon, Washington, and other parts of Idaho, but the smoke from California historically doesn't happen as much as we think.

How does the smoke from California get to Boise?

On the occasions when Boise experienced smoke from California wildfires like we did in September 2020, it's been because of several factors combined to create a "perfect storm" type of situation.

If you think of smoke like a plane flying long distances, it travels high in the air using the jet stream like a highway. The highway sometimes flows towards us, and sometimes it doesn't.

How does the inversion factor into this?

The inversion can change things when smoke comes into the Treasure Valley from California, Oregon, Washington, or other parts of Idaho. On a typical day, warm air rises, taking the smoke and air pollution with it. But during an inversion, a layer of warm air traps cooler air near the ground like a lid on a pot, trapping all the smoke that makes it to Boise, making the air quality much worse.

So, why aren't we experiencing the California smoke in Boise?

Right now, Southern California is experiencing Santa Ana winds, which are common between October and March every year. These winds are taking the smoke to the coast, where they pick up those "highways" mentioned earlier, known as the jet stream, taking the smoke further out to the Pacific Ocean and far from the Treasure Valley.