Winds pushed wildfire smoke over Shasta County. When could cool weather blow it away?

North State residents who woke up to wildfire smoke and hazy skies on Thursday morning will soon get some cool and rainy relief.

Early Thursday morning, northern winds blew smoke over Shasta County from fires burning in southwestern Oregon and along the California Coastline in Humboldt and Del Norte counties. Smoke also came from remaining fires burning in the western flank of the 2023 Happy Camp Complex in the Klamath National Forest in Siskiyou County, according to the National Weather Service.

Those north winds will continue to pump smoke over western Shasta County off and on through Thursday night. They'll calm down around midnight on Friday morning, said meteorologist Chelsea Peters at the weather service’s Sacramento branch.

Note to readers: If you appreciate the work we do here at the Redding Record Searchlight, please consider subscribing yourself or giving the gift of a subscription to someone you know.

Although people smelled smoke, air pollution levels in Redding, Anderson, Shasta Lake and Cottonwood didn’t quite reach unhealthy levels Thursday morning, according to the EPA’s AirNow air quality report.

Winds blowing from the south will clear the air on Friday, assuming no new fires start in Shasta County or to the south, Peters said.

Redding’s weather will be cool and pleasant as the season turns to autumn.

Rain arrives this weekend

First fall weather will be pleasant for outdoor recreation on Friday and during the day Saturday. High daytime temperatures won’t go above the low 80s, according to Peters.

Skies will be partly cloudy as light rainstorms blanket Redding as early as Saturday night, she said, but are more likely to arrive on Sunday.

Those storms will get heavier on Sunday night, continuing into Monday. Redding could get as much as 1.5 inches of rain by Monday night, Peters said.

But there some good news anticipated: Those rainstorms won’t have much electric charge. “There might be a lightning strike or two,” Peters said, but “primarily rain showers” are on the way.

In Shasta County, gusty winds from the south will blow before and after showers and sporadically during lulls in the rain. Those gusts could reach 30 mph, starting Sunday afternoon through Monday afternoon, Peters said, so fold up any light lawn furniture by Sunday morning.

Daytime temperatures in Redding won’t go above the mid-70s on Sunday afternoon, and temperatures will stay in the 60s and low 70s on Monday and Tuesday afternoons, she said.

Nighttime temperatures will drop to the mid- to low 50s, according to the weather service, so early birds may need a jacket first thing in the morning.

The North State warms up a bit on Wednesday, with Redding temperatures expected to rise into the 80s again, Peters said.

One other tidbit for weather watchers: The fall equinox happens at 11:50 p.m. on Friday. It's the second of two times per year the Earth tilts so the sun shines directly on the equator, making day and night hours equal. Then the planet tilts the northern hemisphere away from the sun, making our daytime hours get shorter while nighttime gets longer.

Shortest days peak at the winter solstice, a few days before Christmas.

For hourly updates on fires burning in the North State and where their smoke is headed, check the California Wildfire and Smoke map at data.redding.com/fires.

For updates on air quality and how smoke and other pollutants are affecting your area, check the EPA's AirNow website at airnow.gov.

Jessica Skropanic is a features reporter for the Record Searchlight/USA Today Network. She covers science, arts, social issues and news stories. Follow her on Twitter @RS_JSkropanic and on Facebook. Join Jessica in the Get Out! Nor Cal recreation Facebook group. To support and sustain this work, please subscribe today. Thank you.

This article originally appeared on Redding Record Searchlight: Why there's smoke over Shasta County. Rain and clean wind on the way.