The fires aren’t headlines anymore on the Washington Post, even though they are still going. Please tell me that our media has not decided that these fires are part of the our hellish landscape now – political and otherwise.
We haven’t forgotten you, so let us know how you are doing. Also, if you get a chance, let me know in the comments if these threads are useful to you or if they have run their course.
Stay safe.
Evacuation Levels
- Level 1: READY – Level 1 evacuations are an Alert. Residents should be aware of a danger that exists. …
- Level 2: SET – Level 2 evacuations indicate there is a significant risk to your area. Now is the time to be set for immediate evacuation. …
- Level 3: GO! – Level 3 means there is immediate danger.
West of the Rockies
Butte County here… Less stinky-smoky presently (the air and I that is). No overnight ash layer.
I love the smell of brimstone in the morning! It’s the smell of… I forget.
cain
Air quality is really bad – and I think we’re pretty much not supposed to go out unless we have to.
But it looks like we have rain on wednesday and thursday so hopefully we’ll see some relief for the wild fires.
The anxiety has really hit the roof with both the upcoming elections, wildfires, and whatever else that is happening. This year man..
Kelly
Yesterday Mrs Kelly found a hotel on the coast accepts cats, Clarion Surfrider across 101 from Fogarty Creek State Park. We’re heading over this morning to get some fresh air. Due to caution about the plague we haven’t had our usual couple of coast trips this year and homeowners insurance should reimburse us.
Power is restored at our house, water is not. Our area will remain closed at least until all the roadside danger trees are removed. Light rain in the forecast this week will help slow the fire a little but the main benefit is clearing the air.
West of the Cascades
Grateful for the thoughts! The AQI in Portland right now is 406, down from 516 overnight, and the winds over most of Oregon are calm which means that although there’s very little fire containment, there’s also not explosive, wind-driven growth happening. The smoke and low ceiling are hampering efforts to get ahead of the fires, though. Some of the evacuation warnings in the southern/southeastern suburbs and nearby areas have been eased, which has allowed some evacuees to go home and others to relax at least a little for now. From an air quality standpoint in the metro area, the forecast is for at least “unhealthy” (if not “hazardous,” as it currently is) air quality to continue through Friday. Staying indoors with everything shut, my cats are not in distress, which has been my biggest concern.
germy
How are things in Colorado?
HumboldtBlue
My Bil’s sister and her husband lost all their heavy equipment but the fire spared the house in Alsea.
Folks in Southern Humboldt are still be impacted by two large complexes and to the east beyond the Hoopa reservation, another major complex is burning.
It’s going to be weeks if not months before those fires are brought under control.
There are thousands either facing evacuation or who have been forced to evacuate but the hard work of protecting property and lives goes on.
dmsilev
Air quality here (LA area, in the San Gabriel Valley near the Bobcat fire) is not great, but it’s a bit improved from a few days ago. Midday sun is no longer orange. I’m thankfully not in an evacuation-warning zone, so that’s a bit of a relief. Keeping a wary eye on the fire maps though in case that changes.
realbtl
No fires anywhere near NW Montana but the 8000′ mountains 5 miles to the east have disappeared and air is unhealthy. Reminds me of LA in the 50s.
gravelbar
I’m a flood scientist. They are all quickly forgot. Makes us nuts. I say nobody ever got a medal for preventing a flood (or fire).
JaneE
Bishop here. Airnow AQI is hazardous = 342. That is actually down a little from last night. No sign of the mountains, not even an outline.
kindness
Middle of the Central Valley Ca here. We still can’t see the sky. There isn’t ash falling from it any longer. It seems as if the fires burning in the South Bay area hills and the Sierras east of Fresno are being contained. I know we don’t usually get winter rains till November but I sure would like them to come early this year. We need it bad. Then we’ll be able to complain about mudslides. Isn’t California grand?
Elizabelle
@Kelly: Wishing you and the Mrs. and the kittehs an excellent getaway. The ocean, electricity, a takeout restaurant nearby? What is not to like?
Do the kittehs have harnesses? I wonder what they would think of the ocean.
Hob
I’m in SF and the air’s not good, but thinking of people in Oregon is what continues to make me freak out. Not to mention people in the Bay Area who don’t have safe places to breathe better air— I’ve been donating to the Mask Oakland volunteers but I’m sure it’s a drop in the bucket of what’s needed.
zzyzx
So yesterday afternoon in northeast Seattle, the sun was suddenly out so it appeared that the forecast for all of this to clear out by today was going well.
…then it didn’t.
We’re back in the mid 200 range here, which OR is laughing at but it’s still categorized as very unhealthy. I like the, “oops! We really thought it would happen!” attitude of this article:
https://komonews.com/news/local/seattle-could-remain-in-smoke-all-week-as-cleansing-breezes-fail-to-materialize
Aziz, light!
Climate change is a factor in the wave of megafires that now besets the West every year, but the primary reason for them is 100+ years of fire suppression. My employer is a bear holding a shovel, but they never should have given him the job. The bad news is that these more frequent high-severity fires will be with us for decades to come.
There are steps we can take to mitigate them in the form of fuel-reduction treatments and prescribed burns. These require a lot more funding than we get to do what is needed to restore some semblance of the natural order.
I think about what other Northwest residents in and near the fire zones are going through, and count my blessings that I am safe and sound in my Portland home.
PortlandSuburbia
In the suburbs just west of Portland, Oregon, separated by the Forest Park hills.
The fires closest to Portland seem to be mostly controlled, if not “contained”, and the evacuation zones have been downgraded steadily over the weekend. As far as I can tell, the southern Oregon fires have been controlled for some days, but there is still activity near Eugene/Springfield that isn’t getting much attention.
Fall kind of started abruptly on Saturday, bringing some rain, but also fog which combined with the smoke to create smog. Air quality is pretty terrible, with very low visibility, but downtown is *much* worse. Drove through the tunnel into downtown yesterday (helping my son move in SE PDX) and was quite shocked when we emerged from the tunnel on the downtown side to see just how bad it was. Predictions are it will start to clear over the next few days.
Strong smell of smoke everywhere outside, but we haven’t seen any substantial ash fall here.
HumboldtBlue
@cain:
I thought it was going to rain yesterday, despite still smoky skies it had all the hallmarks of a Humboldt rain but alas, nuffin.
Yutsano
Eastern Washington. Still a big cloudy haze out there.
Manxome Bromide
I’m in SIlicon Valley and the air is on the border of “Unhealthy” and “Very Unhealthy”. The three megafires near us are, at last report, 89%, 97%, and 98% contained. The Humbolt/Mendocino fires (the August Complex) have merged into a single unit and now rival all three combined.
We’ve had an AQI past 150 pretty much nonstop since the sky stopped being orange.
mrmoshpotato
President Biden speaking about climate change.
pacem appellant
National media is wired for DC and the eastern sea board. Texas and California rarely make national news despite the fact that a lot of news-worthy events happen in both states. CA and the pacific northwest lit up like a roman candle seems important to me, but what do I know? I just live in the Bay Area and it’s already be an extra-terrible month of quarantine because I’m double-quarantined (can’t socialize, can’t go outside).
WaterGirl
@germy: Thanks, I edited the title. I figured the list of states was making the title too long. Next time I’ll call it Fires Out West.
pacem appellant
@Manxome Bromide: My office is the garage, and it’s been frustrating to have to work inside where I’m not set up properly and where the offspring are trying learn distantly. I back in the garage today and I have the mega air filter on high right next to me. I can tolerate low orange, but if it goes to high orange or red, I’m going to work from the couch again.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@JaneE: Some photographer friends are thinking of heading up there for some Milky Way photography by the dishes near Big Pine, I’m thinking the air quality won’t be good enough to make the drive worthwhile.
zzyzx
The fun I have is that I’m a diabetic who controls it via exercise. So, do I go outside and risk damage to my lungs or go to the gym and risk getting Covid or take rest days and watch my blood glucose start to go back up.
I’m going for the compromise solution of doing a shorter and less intense outdoor workout followed by 20 minute or so using our heavy hulu hoop at home (I just can’t make myself do that for much longer), but I’m on day 4 of a headache/sore throat combination so…
The powerwalk/run has been what’s been keeping me sane during endless quarantine so I’m probably just going to stick to it. It’s the best of 3 bad options for me.
Martin
Here in OC things seem perfectly fine. Slight high level haze. 78. Sunny-ish. But 180 AQI (sure doesn’t look like it). After a little while outside the throat and eyes start to burn.
This is probably close to the best air quality on the west coast right now.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@mrmoshpotato: When’s the bum going to start issuing EO’s to fix everything?
JOHN MANCHESTER
The air quality here in San Rafael has been stuck at 170 for three days. The smoke’s too bad to walk the dog even with an N95. The dog misses the walk and is terminally bored, crying about phantom chew toys he thinks he buried in the bed. I miss my exercise. We’re renting now, but first thing when we get a new place is buying an elliptical trainer and putting it in the garage along with an air purifier.
Must remind myself to be grateful we’re not in Oregon or east of here where the air is in the 4 and 5 hundred range. And that our place didn’t burn.
Last fall we were talking about moving east (where we come from) for September and October. With the pandemic we’re afraid of getting on a plane. But if this crap doesn’t let up we’re going.
Martin
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Maybe up by whitney portal. Do they have a webcam?
WaterGirl
@zzyzx: Jumping jacks! Feet wide and arms over your head.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Martin: There’s a webcam in Lone Pine that looks at Mt. Whitney. That’s a ways from Big PIne.
ETA: “The Dishes” are CalTech’s radio telescopes, they’re northeast of Big Pine and are probably a bit closer to Bishop.
Carol Van Natta
In Fort Collins (northern Colo.), as of local noon on Mon. 14 Sept., we currently have good air quality (EPA 39). A couple of weeks ago, we had the orange skies that looked like Mordor, unhealthy air quality (EPA 266) that smelled like being downwind of campfire, and several days of light ash-fall. My asthmatic kitty sounded like a squeezebox and my sinuses felt like bricks. The freak, earliest-on-record storm that left 3″ of snow on our trees appears to have sent the smoke Somewhere Else.
Mind you, the fire causing all this excitement is only 4% contained, and the prevailing winds can shift against our favor at Mother Nature’s whim.
JMG
I’m an East Coaster, and I’ve noticed the network news I watch (ABC has led with the fires for a week except for the day the Woodward-Trump interview broke. So I don’t think it’s quite accurate to say the story’s being underplayed. Best wishes for safety and improved breathing opportunities for all of you affected.
Gretchen
Republicans are calling their effort to beat Barbara Bollier for Senate “Operation Scorched Prairie”.
Roger Moore
@dmsilev:
I am. I’m far enough into the city that I think it’s unlikely that I’ll be asked to evacuate, but it’s a constant low-level worry in the back of my mind. The fire seems to be burning toward Mt. Wilson rather than into the foothill cities right now, but I know that’s subject to change if the winds shift.
WhatsMyNym
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Have them check windy.com, you can check Air Quality (select PM2.5 under Air Quality). It shows Big Pine as clear right now. Most of the smoke is low elevation.
WaterGirl
@JMG:
That’s good news. The fire had been all over the front page of the Washington Post for days, then not there at all this morning.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@WhatsMyNym: Actually they have “the dishes” as a location, the air doesn’t look too hot right now. Thanks, I’ll pass it on.
dmsilev
@Roger Moore: There are a couple of actual evacuation orders in place; parts of Arcadia and Sierra Madre. Looks to be fairly limited though, which is (a bit) reassuring.
I’m south of the freeway, so I’ve got a pretty good wide concrete firebreak between it and me…
The Moar You Know
One fire about 40 miles away, 50% contained, no worries. I love overcast skies (we get a lot of that here in SD) but the fire overcast is not nearly so nice.
Visibility down to about two miles, tops. AQI veers between about 150-280, which is really bad even for here. Ozone and the 2.5 particulates are the worst offenders, as one might expect.
Kelly
@Elizabelle: We’ll pick up harness for 2 year old Phoebe along the way. 1 year old Martin just lays down when we try to harness him. We have soft cat carrier that he’ll have to do his exploring in.
Roger Moore
@dmsilev:
It’s really a single order that happens to spill across a city line.
I’m well north of the freeway in Upper Hastings Ranch, so the fire is a big concern. I’m at the southern edge of the evacuation warning area. It’s quite possible that people north of me will be asked to evacuate, but doubt I will be. It’s still something to be worried about.
Kent
I expect there is going to be tremendous flooding in Western Oregon this winter if we get any kind of unusual El Nino style heavy rains. With all those trees and vegetation no longer there to absorb water and stabilize the mountain slopes. Flooding and mudslides are going to be everywhere. It will be an unholy mess for a lot of the small communities that are tucked along rivers and under large slopes as many of them are.
dmsilev
@Roger Moore: Yeah, that’s close enough to be uncomfortable.
Stay safe.
surfk9
Lodi here AQI is 185, same as yesterday, same as the day before… Just looked at the satellite picture of CA and you can see that the Central Valley is completely covered with a mass of smoke that’s just hanging there, not going anywhere. Grumble…
Kent
AQI has dropped to 350 here in my part of the Portland metro after hovering over 500 last night. It doesn’t look or feel any different from yesterday but hopefully that is a good sign and not just noise in the data.
We aren’t really forecast to get dramatically improved conditions until later this week around Thursday. I have never wished for rain and winds in all my years of living in the Pacific Northwest than I do right now.
Martin
@dmsilev: Keep an eye on the winds. I don’t think there’s any forecast for Santa Anas, but I watched a fire head into Tustin that was jumping a couple blocks at a time. It’ll have no problem jumping the 210 if the winds are strong enough, especially coming off of the foothills.
Martin
@Kent: La Nina this year. We’re going to be begging for rain.
Elizabelle
@Kelly: Pics of the cats at the beach, if you get any cute ones.
Mary G
@Martin: Only 111 down here. Finally set up the air purifier and had the best night’s sleep I’ve had in a while.
Elizabelle
@WaterGirl: Fires were top of the FTF NY Times this morning.
Elizabelle
@Gretchen: Timing. LOL. Republicans.
SteverinoCT
@zzyzx: I got some good aerobic exercise in a submarine, not your more roomy venue, by using a step in a corner of the engine room; left foot up, right foot up, left foot down, right foot down. Every five or ten minutes switch the leading foot. It’s boring, none of those fancy dance moves, but with headphones on it got the job done.
soup time
@JaneE:
I am happy there is at least one jackal in Bishop!
Scanning the airnow map and found a couple of extremes. Lee Vining at 1033. Mammoth Lakes 1400. Some of the charts don’t even go that high.
Here in Olympia area the AQI went above 200 overnight and stayed there. The sky isn’t orange anymore. Radar shows light showers approaching. Yay.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@gravelbar: Yes, that’s wince part, but the time fires will be stopped it will be time for rain and the mudslides.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
My degenerate ex-housemate left his girlfriend’s air purifier behind and I have that up running in my bed room now and damn that made a huge difference. Also, unexpected bonus of being an essential worker means I am at work during the week with the big, heavily filtered HVAC air.
WaterGirl
@Elizabelle: I don’t even look at the NYT anymore.
Elizabelle
@WaterGirl: A wise decision
I maintain the sub, but check them last each morning.
Wapiti
@?BillinGlendaleCA: I went out to eastern WA to see the meteor showers two years ago. There was a big fire ~12 miles from town and we couldn’t see the sun during the day, nevermind meteors at night.
Dan B
My nephew in law (niece’s husband) is a soil scientist. He researches the aftermath of fires. They’re in Bend, OR. He was busy a couole of years ago. He made the call to shut down the trails in the gorge. They’ve got a month old and two tear old twins so life is crazy.
Sloane Petersons knee therapist
SoHum area of Cal. While AQI just north of me is crappy, it’s only 92 here. Next few days are critical as the two big fires to the east and noreast have not diminished any, but have actually increased in size. This with a more south/ southwesterly breeze coming on-shore. By next weekend high pressure will build back in, which means north/ northeasterly winds that can drive those fuqers in our direction.
trollhattan
@JaneE:
Did you happen to see the Mammoth Mountain AQI last night? 968 [?!?]
Sac is relentlessly parked at just under 200, has been for days, and our Friedman Unit seems to be how many days ’til it clears. They have added one day, daily, for nearly a week.
A front is headed to Oregon that promises to bring rain, starting tonight and going for days. Hope they’re right about that!
mrmoshpotato
@SteverinoCT:
Sounds like a design flaw. The Navy really needs to rethink submarine architecture.
LesGS
@The Moar You Know: Yeah, my daughter is a server/bartender at a restaurant on Park (so either outside with the smokey air or inside with the covid-19 potential). Even wearing an N95 mask her entire shift, she suffers burning eyes and sinuses daily. :/
Geoduck
SW Washington state, the smoke looks like a medium-dense fog. It is drizzling rain for the first time in forever, which is helpful I guess.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Wapiti: The first time I took my wife with me for Milky Way viewing, we didn’t go to my first choice of location due to a fire on the way, but at the second location the smoke made viewing less than optimal.
Ruckus
@SteverinoCT:
Wasn’t stationed on a sub but I’ve gone literal weeks without going outside because of the state of the sea, on a DDG. [I also lead tours on a WWII sub at San Diego while in school, something interesting to do in my off time.] So it’s not just the sub service that has a hard time getting enough exercise.
UncleEbeneezer
@JaneE: Ugh, that’s terrible. Here in Altadena we are down to 162 AQI and we can FINALLY see the foothills again (that are only a mile from me and I haven’t seen for days).
Btw- if you use FB, I created a group dedicated to the Eastern Sierra for people who are progressive, environmentally conscious, anti-racist, etc. Many of the Sierra FB groups are pretty conservative and don’t allow any talk about Global Warming, Covid, Manzanar etc., because so many of the members are MAGAssholes who throw a tantrum if anyone dares mention the connection between public policy and the Sierra. Anyways, check it out and feel free to share with anyone you know who might be interested.
CaseyL
Seattle: sky still like solid overcast with haze, though a little less amber and a little more gray. Cats are insistent about their outside access, so leaving their access points open and we’ll see how it goes.
ETA: AQI index says “unhealthy,” and I can feel it in my throat. So lighter sky is deceptive.
WaterGirl
@trollhattan: That’s horrifying.
Scout211
https://www.kcra.com/article/trump-visit-sacramento-california-historic-wildfires/34011256
I just wish a journalist would ask ,”The majority of these fires have started on Federal land and most of the acreage that has burned belongs to the National Forest Service. So what are your plans to fix the forest management problem that you keep mentioning? Since, you know, you are in charge of the federal forests.”
Also outside of McClellan, a car swiped two protesters. One was taken out of the area in an ambulance.
Scout211
It just creeps me out that Trump is here in NorCal. I am afraid that he will try to use this stop in Sacramento as a campaign prop and that just makes me mad.
Our AQI here has improved and we saw a hint of actual blue in the sky this morning. It’s gone now but still the AQI is slightly better and you can’t smell smoke.
WaterGirl
@Scout211:
I have no doubt that he will.
Laura
@Geoduck: YOu have rain? I hope it gets to the south Sound. We are way too dry I would be so grateful for even a little rain.
Laura
Hartstene Island, Mason Co WA So far we are al smoke but no fire. However, we have one hundred year conditions and if there is a fire it will be a big one. I am so sad for the people and animals. I am sad for the whole fucking planet.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@UncleEbeneezer: They don’t want to talk about Manzanar, it’s kind of right there. Do they think it’s a hoax or something?
I had friends in college who parents were in the camps. At the Noirish LA site I follow and post at, one guys mom was at Manzanar during the war.
Sister Golden Bear
SF Peninsula here.
The good news is that it’s hazy sunny today after the days of eternal gloom.
The bad news is that the air quality has gotten even worse (AQI 243 currently), now that we’re now longer protected by the marine (fog) layer.
Things continue to be about 15 degrees cooler than average, which is adding to the disorienting feel of things
Still on I-don’t-know-how-many weeks of sore throats, irritated eyes and headaches from the smoke.
trollhattan
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Our congresswoman was born in a camp (Poston, AZ) and I’d love for somebody to tell her they’re a hoax. I’d like that person to be Stephen Miller.
trollhattan
@Scout211:
Wherever Donny goes, chaos grows.
Volvo? Must be hippie fratricide.
Felanius Kootea
The air quality in our part of Los Angeles is not great – I could feel my eyes sting when I went out walking this morning, but wearing a mask helped with breathing and we are running air purifiers in every room at this point. It’s better than it was a few days ago. Forecast says our worst air quality this week will be Thursday (AQI of 214). Seeing some of the other numbers on this thread, we’re lucky.
Dahlia
It’s raining here on Hollywood Hill in Woodinville. Still, you can see particles floating around in the air.
It’s better than nothing.
opiejeanne
The AQI for our area, east of Seattle, is 303 on one site and 239 on another. It looks like fog and it stinks, like cigarette smoke and something else, can’t quite figure out what. I went out briefly to check on the garden and came back quickly. It’s nasty and we feel trapped indoors.
I did an inventory of our freezer and pantry to find out what we have on hand, and wrote it down. I won’t be ordering from the delivery service until this smoke has cleared off because I don’t want to make anyone go out in this mess. Found some Thai peanut curry sauce for chicken that I made a couple of months ago, and some thighs, (Insert joke about Thighland) so that will be supper tomorrow.
Sab
I am in Ohio, but I have family all over California. One of them is my Republican brother who wants to be an oligarch, but everyone else is normal, and some of them have tiny children at risk. These fires are beyond scary.
70 degrees here and sunny skies. I have the window open so my cat is having asthma attacks (new health issue to him. Resistant to meds. Big strong boy with all his claws intact and sharpened.)
My sister in Massachusetts has always said Ohio is wonderful except for the inhabitants. I still think we are a 50/50 state without gerrymandering.
opiejeanne
@Dahlia: We live on Hollywood Hill, too! It just started drizzling here.
UncleEbeneezer
@?BillinGlendaleCA: You can post pictures but basically offer no opinions on all the reasons it was so wrong. Any mention of xenophobia, racism (or parallels to ICE facilities) etc., will get it deleted. Anything more specific than a generic “sad chapter in history” is a problem. And every time, you can be guaranteed that assholes will immediately jump in to downplay or justify the atrocities.
chrisanthemama
Tigard, OR (12 mi SW of Portland) AQI checking in at 341. Not bad compared to Mill City, OR (40 mi E of Salem), which clocks in with an AQI of 627 (#1 in the nation). Both rated “hazardous”. Stay inside–stay safe–I’m grateful to be home.
Dahlia
@opiejeanne: Hi neighbor!
Nora Lenderbee
San Jose. AQI 191 (AirNow) or 130 (PurpleAir with LRAPA fudge factor). The sky is brighter than it’s been for a while, but if I’m outside for long, my nose starts running and my throat gets scratchy.
Rob
There is high smoke from the fires over the Washington DC area, according to the Capital Weather Gang and other meteorologists.
Origuy
@Carol Van Natta: I have a friend in La Porte, near Ft Collins. A few years ago, a fire got just to the top of the ridge to her west. She had to evacuate the horses, but didn’t have to evacuate the house.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@opiejeanne: Looks like you found a new neighbor!
frosty
@gravelbar:
If you’re a flood scientist then you must be aware of the hydroillogic cycle:
Flood
Panic
Planning Study
Procrastination
(Watershed planner here)
Another Scott
Stay safe, everyone.
ICYMI, Ed Miliband giving BoJo hell on his illegal Brexit bill. A short clip.
Excellent.
(via dick_nixon)
Cheers,
Scott.
Mr XD
A good .gov site to track the enormous smoke trail. West coast smoke as far east as Buffalo, NY last time I looked. I live in Southeast Idaho where most of the big fires are north of us. However our valley periodically fills up with west coast smoke, depending on what the jet stream is doing. https://fire.airnow.gov/?lat=37.751&lng=-97.822&zoom=10
Carol Van Natta
@Origuy:
Yeah, the 2012 High Park fire was visible from high-rises (3+ floors) in downtown Fort Collins, especially at dusk. A lot of mountain cabins burned that year and one person died. However, it was a smaller fire by comparison to the Cameron Peak beast, and we didn’t get nearly same amount of smoke.
Mr XD
A good graphic display of the massive smoke pattern can be seen at
https://fire.airnow.gov/?lat=37.751&lng=-97.822&zoom=10.
Last time I checked there was California smoke as far east as Buffalo, NY.
opiejeanne
@Dahlia: Hi! We should get together, at a safe distance of course, once this smoke goes away. I’m on 168th N.E. on the corner where it curves.
Roger Moore
@Scout211:
So much this.
Roger Moore
@trollhattan:
I’m always impressed by their ability to talk out of both sides of their mouths on that kind of thing. On the one hand, they want to pretend the camps never existed. On the other hand, they claim Korematsu is still good law when it comes to doing the same thing to Muslims.
soup time
@chrisanthemama:
Right now Bridgeport (north of Bishop) is 1114 on airnow.
This highest I’ve seen is 1400 two days ago at Mammoth Lakes.
WaterGirl
@soup time: 1114 and 1400 – are those numbers referring to air quality?
laura
You could detect actual blue in the sky this morning in Sacramento and it’s not currently raining ash, so a modest improvement over the last week. Spouse checked in with his Vancouver cousins and they’re getting a heaping helping of smoke and poor air quality. But president shitforbrains and his remora are insisting that science doesn’t understand that climate change is a hoax.
Chris T.
Here (closest EPA station is Bellingham proper, but just think “a bit south of Canada” and you’re close enough) the AQI reading dropped into the merely Unhealthy range this morning, but is back into the mid-200s now. Supposed to rain lightly in the general area this evening, which should help.
soup time
@WaterGirl:
Yes. https://fire.airnow.gov/
Bridgeport and Mammoth Lakes are near Mono Lake on Hwy 395, east side of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, north of Bishop. Lee Vining at Mono Lake had and AQI of 1033 earlier today, still above 1000.
Another Scott
@Roger Moore: @Scout211: https://www.sacbee.com/news/california/fires/article245727925.html
Some good reporters are tying to get the information out there. It’s an uphill slog in the days of Twitter though.
Cheers,
Scott.
WaterGirl
@soup time: Holy shit.
soup time
@soup time:
If Mono Lake sounds or looks familiar, well, it was the photograph on the cover of the album Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd. It has those bizarre salt tufas sprouting all around the shore.
Miss Bianca
@germy: Down here in central CO things are bright and clear after last week’s snow storms. Just before the storms hit, we couldn’t see the mountains from all the smoke.
A Ghost to Most
@Carol Van Natta: That freak snowstorm may have saved RMNP.
I know nobody complained about the snow we got in Golden. It’s been a hot summer.
Chris T.
@soup time: Looks like they set up a temporary monitor right next to a fire here with a current reading of 2411.6, and a peak at 2900. I’m not sure these numbers actually mean anything other than “don’t breathe”….
opiejeanne
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Yes! YAY! I’m glad there at least 4 of us on Hollywood Hill. Actually, there are more because I’ve seen the signs for the state races in some yards.
soup time
@Chris T.: Yikes!
Put yer mouse pointer on that bar chart to display the values. Sept 12, 4pm, the highest peak was 3682. Well, if the monitor is right in the fire, that’s what ya get.
Category: hazardous. Ya think?
Happy Camp isn’t happy.
The firefighters are all out there in this muck working hard and breathing hard.
Aziz, light!
@Roger Moore: The “forest management” problem is that the U.S. Forest Service (my employer) has not been given more than a fraction of the resources it needs to prevent these fires. A lot can be accomplished via scientifically managed thinning, fuels reduction, and prescribed burning projects.
Until recently, little could be done because more than half the agency’s budget each year was taken from our programs to pay ever-rising firefighting costs. And each year, the GOP was chipping away at our budget. We have to fight these fires to protect life and property, leaving little for preventive measures. The nation could choose to manage this problem effectively. But, like everything else, Republicans have both politicized it and dumbed it down.
No, these solutions do not involve rakes.
JustRuss
Corvallis, OR, this afternoon the smoke is letting through enough sun to cast shadows, first time in a week. But AQI is 330, not great. I’m feeling it, seems to get to me more in the late afternoon, I can kind of taste it.
Carol Van Natta
@A Ghost to Most:
I think Rocky Mountain National Park is what the firefighters are trying to protect. Unfortunately, we’re back to hot, dry conditions again. My hat is off to the seriously underpaid people who do that kind of hard and dangerous work.
Golden, CO was lovely the last time I visited it long ago, back in the Jurassic age. Clearly, I need to get out more (after COVID).
Tehanu
Mid-Wilshire Los Angeles here. I could see Mars last night for the first time in a week; the sky was hazy all day today but there was a hint of blue behind it and the sunlight was yellow, not red like the other day. I keep dusting ash off my car (which lives outdoors) but it’s not as bad as it was.
J R in WV
@WaterGirl:
And pushups, and running in place, and pretending a 14 pound long thing is a rifle and doing the manual of arms with it, and playing with something heavy as if it was a kettlebell, which is just a heavy thing with a handle.
Can exercise for a short time right there in the living room with some imagination… Get elastic bands also, cheaper than weights, almost as good for PT…
J R in WV
@Gretchen:
A typically disgusting turn of phrase while many states are covered in fire, ash and smoke. So we have contributed to Dr Bollier’s campaign, just to spite the Republicans and their despicable slogan.
J R in WV
@Kent:
I read recently that a La Nina was detected in the Pacific, which usually means drought in the West and Southwest, and more tropical storms in the Atlantic, all bad news, but not floods in Oregon. IIRC anyways, reading about the hurricanes heading into the SE of the country.
KrackenJack
@Kent:
I thought the NWS said a La Nina had already formed. Cold and wet up north, dry down south. Plus hurricanes galore.[What JR said]I’m reading “The West Without Water: What Past Floods, Droughts, and Other Climatic Clues Tell Us About Tomorrow” by Ingram. You want to talk about apocalyptic…
KrackenJack
@J R in WV: We got some Zumba dvds. The Latin Burst and Global Burst are their 30 min (pseudo-)HIIT versions. Zumba Strong is their kick boxing variant. It’s pretty hardcore. The Zumba site has donation requested classes, but it’s completely hit or miss – no ratings. There are also pre-pay-to-play live classes @ ~$10 per, but we haven’t tried those yet.
Amazon Prime has a good selection of streaming fitness videos including real HIIT and a sample Strong. Netflix has nothing to speak of. There is always Youtube as well.
It’s surprisingly hard to find decent step aerobics workouts even on DVD. 25-year old Reebok videos are apparently still the gold standard.
KrackenJack
@Chris T.: At that point your are no longer breathing the air, you are chewing it.