prometa

Meanwhile, I landed 8 hours earlier than you did on a 3+ hr delayed BWI-SFO flight. It was hazy as we landed, and the air had a noticeable smoke smell when I got home, but had significantly cleared by daybreak.

TObject

How are things going in SFO? Any outlook for tomorrow (10/18)?

Thank you.

findark

We've had a few days of relatively clear skies; things are a bit worse today on the Peninsula but not nearly as bad as last week. All depends on the prevailing winds. Looks like there is a GDP for SFO today due to taxiway work shortening 28L. Honestly, I wouldn't worry unduly about SFO at this point - it's already delay prone due to low ceilings, so just allow your normal caution regarding that and you should be ok.

greg99

It's getting significantly worse this afternoon on the Peninsula. The Air Quality Index was 68 ("Moderate") yesterday here in Menlo Park. Today it's 165 ("Unhealthy"). We're getting nailed by smoke from the fires in the North Bay, plus smoke from new fires in the Santa Cruz mountains to the south. My kids just had all outdoor activities cancelled.

Visibility @ SFO is down to 6 miles, but the ceiling is 18,000 ft, so things should be OK if they stay as-is, but conditions are trending rapidly worse.

https://airnow.gov/index.cfm?action=...4025&submit=Go

findark

Yeah, air seems to be getting worse. I was a bit torn since the air quality index is pretty bad, but my "go outside in Palo Alto" heuristic says things are more tolerable than the worst of last week when I was huddled inside looking for something that wasn't an a/c vent spewing smoke.

Hopefully things clear out eventually!

Kacee

It was horrible in the east bay today (couldn't see the hills from downtown) but clearing now.

JHake10

I'm on the 6 AM SFO-IAH on Oct 18. Hopefully there aren't delays, especially since i'm one of the first out.

docbert

Inbound aircraft is delayed an hour, but it's already in flight and will still land over 7 hours before your departure time, so you should be fine.

SFO's morning issues are normally delays to inbound flights, which then flow onto delays to outbound flights - any aircraft that arrives the night before generally go out early far more frequently than they go out late - regardless of the weather.

Thankfully the aircraft for my 10:40am flight SFO-ORD tomorrow also arrives tonight

garkster

Air quality has been quite volatile over the last couple of days. For example, where I live (Albany facing east), we went from smoky @ 0730 Saturday to virtually clear by 0830 for about 1 1/2 days, then back to smoky.

This is the hourly measurement of particulate matter pollution from various stations over the last 18 hours. Normally this is a problem in the winter when people are burning wood fires. The 8-hour r/t including a 100% increase at Redwood City (just south of SFO) is a good illustration of the volatility. Also, in the Napa school district, which has not burned, but undoubtedly has suffered greatly from the smoke since they are between two major fires, they had planned to reopen the schools tomorrow, but announced this afternoon that due to the poor air quality they won't reopen until Monday, air quality permitting.

Boraxo

Inbound from IAD I was delayed 1.5 hours and I think it got worse into the evening. However winds off the ocean are supposed to blow the smoke out tomorrow and rain is predicted for a few hours on Thursday. So there is reason for optimism going into the weekend.

TObject

Woa, what is happening to UA1136? Is this SFO related?

sfo789

Yeah, there's a GDP at SFO currently, causing average delays of 1:21.

goalie

Could be or just could be "a normal morning for SFO"

From the FAA website

TObject

So LAS>SFO UA1136 is not expected to SFO until 12:36pm.

How come the SFO>SAN UA1900 is showing estimated departure of 12:28pm, before the incoming aircraft arrives?

When the UA 1900 comes to so SAN, it is supposed to turn around and go to SFO as UA1424. This is the flight I am supposed to be on.

I planned for up to three hours delay to make a connection in SFO. But delay right now is:

UA1136: 3hrs 14 mins (still not taken off)
UA1900: 2hrs 21 min
UA1424: 1hrs 45 min

Can they make up the time as estimates show, or should I try to find alternative?

Thank you.

Kacee

We had low clouds early this morning, but it burned off early. Super smokey in Oakland right now . . . at least as bad as yesterday.

At SAN, they will put you on the flight that's most likely to depart next. I would go to the airport asap and try to get on the next flight.