Drift Smoke From Central, NorCal Fires Hits Elsinore, Wildomar

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA — Fire officials in Riverside County advised residents that smoke wafting across the region is coming from fires burning hundreds of miles away.

Cal Fire/Riverside County Fire Department tweeted Thursday afternoon, "Drift smoke from fires in Central/Northern California is visible in Riverside County also."

Cal Fire provided a grim statewide update Thursday morning.

"Today, more than 9,300 personnel remain assigned to 10 active large wildfires. To date, more than 2.35 million acres have burned statewide," the agency reported.

Get the latest on these wildfires at https://fire.ca.gov/incidents.

The South Coast Air Quality Management District, which has jurisdiction in western Riverside County and into the Coachella Valley, issued a smoke advisory Thursday afternoon.

The agency explained that smoke is present in the upper atmosphere across the region, and impacts on surface air quality are expected in the San Bernardino, San Gabriel, and San Jacinto mountains as well as the Coachella Valley.

The "air quality index" may reach unhealthy levels or higher from Thursday afternoon until Friday afternoon, according to the agency.

To view current air quality conditions by region in an interactive map, see http://www.aqmd.gov/aqimap.

Air quality forecasts are available at http://www.aqmd.gov/forecast.