Air quality improving in South SLO County, still very unhealthy in the North County

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. -- Portions of San Luis Obispo County are finally starting to see some improvement in air quality.

All of the South County is now listed with a "Moderate" designation in the Air Quality Index on the San Luis Obispo County Air Pollution Control District (APCD) website.

It's a step up from Thursday when the region was listed as "Unhealthy."

APCD is forecasting air quality to remain in the Moderate category through Wednesday.

While the conditions are improving in the south, North County is still experiencing poor conditions.

As of Friday morning, all of North County, including Paso Robles, Atascadero and Templeton, is still listed with "Very Unhealthy" air quality.

An Air Quality Alert remains in effect for the entire county and is expected to remain in place throughout the weekend.

Wildfires burning outside the county has contributed to smoke blanketing the Central Coast for much of the week.

In fact, the Central Coast has some of the worst air quality in the world because of smoke from fires burning around Santa Cruz and Monterey counties.

On Thursday afternoon, the Air Quality Index was at 449 in Lake Nacimiento, topping the world wide list for worst air quality tracked by IQ Air. San Miguel was second at 420 and Paso Robles was fifth at 382, which is still considered hazardous.

For the latest information on San Luis Obispo County air quality conditions, visit the APCD website at slocleanair.org.