The change in air quality is being caused by wildfires occurring in Central California. The smoke caused the South Coast Air Quality Management District to issue an air quality advisory.
The main areas under the advisory are contained within the mountain regions and high and low deserts.
Scott Epstein is a Program Supervisor for South Coast AQMD, and he said, "The smoke will impact those mountain areas, but then it will remain at a high elevation as it moves south over the valleys."
Areas under advisory are expected to have their Air Quality Index reach Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups levels or higher.
And while smoke might be visible throughout the Inland Empire, Epstein said, for the most part, it will not affect air quality. He said, "You have a lot of smoke aloft high up in the atmosphere, and you see it when you look at the sun, it looks very ominous and orange, but that smokes not down at the surface where people breath."
Air quality in most of the IE is expected to stay from good to moderate levels, with the current advisory only in place till Friday afternoon.
