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Smoke from wildfires near the San Francisco Bay Area obscure the skyline near sunset on Aug 20, 2020.
Photo: Instagram / Dennisk928Smoke from wildfires near the San Francisco Bay Area obscure the skyline near sunset on Aug 20, 2020.
Smoke from wildfires near the San Francisco Bay Area obscure the skyline near sunset on Aug 20, 2020.
Smoke from wildfires near the San Francisco Bay Area obscure the skyline near sunset on Aug 20, 2020.
UPDATE, Aug. 26, 3:35 p.m.: The Bay Area Air Quality Management District told SFGATE Wednesday afternoon that they've gathered more evidence on the odor source, reporting that "one of our inspectors was out by the Bay today and verified that the smell of sulfur/cut grass was present. They said that at this time of year the estuaries dry out and the rotting vegetation/organisms makes the odor."
Aug. 26, 3 p.m. Many living in communities fronting San Francisco Bay noticed an unusual sulfur-like smell outdoors Wednesday.
The odor was entirely different from the stench of smoke that has dominated the region in recent days amid a rash of wildfires and some said it resembled the smell of fresh-cut grass, mold or dirty socks.
Trish Llopis of San Francisco smelled it when she was on the roof of her San Francisco home taking photos at about 8:14 a.m.
"I was really surprised to not smell smoke," Llopis said. "It smelled almost like your compost bin when it starts to turn. It was like garbage."
Llopis posted a video and message about it on Instagram and many others said they had gotten a whiff of the same thing.
The scent was noticed everywhere from San Francisco to the Oakland Hills to Richmond and was especially noticeable with the smokey smell from recent days mostly gone.
The Bay Area Air Quality Management District received no reports of the smell, but Air Quality District meteorologists said, "It is possible that the smell is coming from the Woodward Fire in Point Reyes, which is burning some marshy areas and may cause the sulfur/grass odor."
How possible is this?
"It’s possible," said Brian Garcia, a forecaster with the National Weather Service's Bay Area office.
Garcia said a northwesterly wind pattern is blowing smoke from the Marin County Fire through the Golden Gate and across San Francisco Bay. This pattern is expected to continue through the week.
But while the weather pattern fits this hypothesis, the actual fuel, or vegetation, the blaze is burning doesn't.
"The fire is only active in the uplands" — forest and grass areas — and not in any marsh or wetlands, said Kim Nelson, part of the fire's incident management team.
Then what is it?
It could also be burning ice plants that "are along the coast where the Woodward Fire is" and these "smell like rotten eggs" when they burn, said Tina Landis, a spokesperson for the Air Quality District.
The National Weather Service actually posted an image on Twitter Wednesday of burning ice plants (succulent like plants known to be fire-resistant) along the coast where the CZU August Lightning Complex has torn through the Santa Cruz Mountains and approached the coast.
"This is extremely rare to see these plants burn," the NWS said in the post.
Amy Graff is the news editor for SFGATE. Email her: agraff@sfgate.com.
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What's that weird smell in Bay Area today? Here's what we know - SFGate
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