Central California wakes up to rain, fall-like conditions

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- A cleansing of the smoky air is just what we all needed. The blue skies gave folks around the Valley the chance to take a deep breath.

"It was beautiful," says Ashley Gomez. "Clear air. No more smoke in the sky, so it was kind of nice to be out and bring the baby out for the first time to the zoo."

Gomez and her family headed to the Fresno Chaffee Zoo as soon as the rain stopped.

"Oh, it was nice to have the windows open and to not have to worry about the smoke coming into the house," she said.

The Valley Air Pollution Control District expects our break from the smoky skies to last through the weekend.

"Fortunately, the system that came through last night, we anticipate that it will keep the atmosphere mixing at least until Sunday," says Jaime Holt with the Valley Air District.

Many growers had their drying raisins rolled up a day ago to protect them from the rain.

Without protective measures, the crop can get soaked and covered with sand. Mold can also develop.

"I think enough ranches got a fair warning that they were able to take precautions, either by rolling trays up or like us, covering up existing bins that had raisins in them with tarps," says Stan Morita.

Giant tarps cover Morita's raisin bins on his Biola farm.

He watches the weather all the time and knew the crop needed to be wrapped up.

"Until the raisins leave the field, I'm never really comfortable," he said.

Morita may pray for rain 11 months out of the year but he doesn't like to see it during the harvest.