Smoke Is Here

I got off work the other afternoon in a town about 10 miles from our town. It was kind of hazy outside but not too bad. We have a forest fire burning north of us and the wind had shifted, hence the haze.

I ran some errands, and when I was coming out of the grocery store, I noticed that I couldn't even see the other side of the parking lot. The smoke had completely dropped into our little valley.

I drove home (having to put on my headlights as our truck is grey/silver and blends right into the smoke), and when I was about a mile from town, I drove out of the wall of smoke to a much clearer scene. It was a little scary to see the wall of smoke behind me and I knew that it would only be a matter of time before it got all the way here.

Below is a picture I took after getting home, looking down our street towards the hills to the east of us. You can see that it is kind of hazy and we could definitely smell the smoke in the air.

The picture below, is the next morning when the smoke had moved in. As you can see, you can barely make out the hills in the background. And this isn't even as bad as it was when I came out of the grocery store. Needless to say, I put a N95 mask in the truck in case I need it in the next week. The weather is expected to stay pretty much as is so we are forecast-ed to have the smoke for a while.

They had to cancel one of the plays the other night because the outdoor theatre is obviously exposed to the smoke. Thankfully, I don't seem to have any breathing issues so the smoke doesn't bother me much but I do feel for those that it greatly impacts.
____________________________

Two Years Ago on In My Words...Red Skies At Night