Brown haze in Northern Nevada skies a mystery

The brown haze in Northern Nevada skies Saturday could not be easily explained by forecasters or the Douglas County Sheriff's Department.

There were neither controlled burns known in the area nor Chinese dust storms like the one that clouded California in August of last year.

"We don't absolutely know for sure," said Ray Collins, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Reno.

"But we believe it could be agricultural burning in California. We can't pinpoint it on the satellite images."

A Douglas County Sheriff's Department dispatcher had a similar answer.

"We have no idea," he said. "There are no controlled burns that we know of."

The weather service forecaster said afternoon winds helped clear the air.

For today he said he expects more warm weather -- even a few degrees warmer than Saturday.

"It should be pretty much the same as what we have today," he said Saturday evening. "Just pretty nice weather."

On the Net

National Weather Service, Reno: http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/Reno/