Weekend Outlook 8/26-8/29, 2021
Forest Closures:
Due to fire risk and smoke, the national forest service has issued a forest closure for most forest ranger districts west of the California/Nevada state line and north of Sonora Pass. This includes the entire Lake Tahoe Basin. There were rumors of the Nevada side of Tahoe not being impacted. These were wrong. Inquiring directly to the Forest Service (See email screenshot below) clarified that the closure applies to all areas within the Tahoe basin. Please don’t risk a $5000 ticket. Maps of the affected forests are at this link.
Clarification from the Forest Service re:Lake Tahoe Basin closure. August 26, 2021
Currently, Truckee Meadows public lands east of the Stateline or Carson/Sierra crest are not impacted. I’ll update this post as I get additional information.
Weekend Events:
Here are the events that are on the radar for this weekend:
Thursday, August 26:
6pm
Silver State Striders have decided not to organize group runs this week due to air quality issues.
Saturday, August 28:
Silver State Striders have decided not to organize group runs this week due to air quality issues.
Trail Outlook
With no precipitation or thunderstorms expected in the forecast, what I’m looking at is wind direction and speed to indicate possible windows of good air. With Caldor to our South-South-East and Dixie to the North-West, our best days of air quality have been during periods of wind out of the North-East, East, and East-South-East. As I’m writing this, winds are expected to shift to the East in the next hour but then back to North and North-North-East by mid-afternoon. So Thursday midday may have better air but declining by evening time. Looking further out, we are projected to be in a bit of a swirl with wind direction changing every few hours. Windows of good air are most likely midday to evening on Friday and noon to evening on Saturday. Saturday is a little less sure because the wind speed is expected to be very low so we may not have significant clearing even though it is moving in the right direction. Saturday night, a shift back to Westerly winds will resume filling the valley with smoke through Sunday. Sunday evening might see local patches of ok air due to the wind speed carrying particles beyond the Truckee Meadows, but with that higher wind speed, we are also more likely to see larger pieces of ash being carried all the way to the region from the Caldor fire.
Additionally, with the forest closures affecting Truckee and Tahoe, expect to see a few more trail users coming from nearby communities. With the heat, smoke, and added trail traffic, it’s a good time to focus on enjoying what outdoor opportunities we have and letting the rest just be what it is. Be kind, be safe, and if you get out, enjoy.
Forest districts closed by the Emergency Forest Closure Order, August 26, 2021 (Not shown is the Humbolt-Toiyabe National Forest closures covering the Stateline to Tahoe National Forest west of Reno and from the Tamarack fire to the Tahoe National Forest South of Carson City.)