After several days suffering under thick smoke, our skies have cleared in dramatic fashion Tuesday.

We expected some clearing with fresher air moving in, but this goes well beyond expectations.

We've seen a huge drop in the concentration of fine particles in the air (measured in micrograms per cubic meter) through the day in Bakersfield.

At midnight the concentration was 97.

By noon, it was was down to 5!

Moderate to even good air quality is expected through the evening, and likely for the rest of the week as well!

The air quality is not the only good change we're tracking either.

Our temperatures will fall dramatically through the forecast!

Highs will still be close to 80 in Bakersfield Wednesday, but will fall as low as the 60s by Friday as a strong upper level trough moves in!

That systems will bring breezy winds, clouds, and even a chance for rain with it too!

Models are still a little split on our rain chances though.

Righ now I'm going with a 30% chance of light rain in the Valley, and about a 40% chance in the mountains.