2020 Online fire and smoke maps

[4ster]

SLT around 5PM today AQI around 150.

My masks are working double duty with all the smoke

More trash & people here this summer than I have ever seen in over 60+ years! I expected less people yet it has been like Fourth of July every day. So many people who just don’t care.


I hate to see peoples good times cut short but closing things down is the right move. Oh yeah, pandemic & bubonic plague too

 

[Tricia]

SLT around 5PM today AQI around 150.
View attachment 109706

My masks are working double duty with all the smoke

More trash & people here this summer than I have ever seen in over 60+ years! I expected less people yet it has been like Fourth of July every day. So many people who just don’t care.
View attachment 109709

I hate to see peoples good times cut short but closing things down is the right move. Oh yeah, pandemic & bubonic plague too

A friend who owns a business that's driven by tourism in June has said pretty much the same thing you're saying.
First the SIP crushed spring, then the busiest and most trashed summer, and now closure of USFS.
He agrees that the closure is smart at this time, but his head is spinning from the happenings of this year.

 

[TexasStout]

I was able to get rides in Friday afternoon and Sunday morning, then the smoke came in from the Cameron fire up north and AQI went to crap. Thankfully, storm is coming in from Canada which is predicted to give us anywhere from 3-10 inches of snow. Praying that knocks out the fire.

Fires here this Summer have seriously reduced my riding, compared to any other year. We had a scare in July where one was within a few miles. Fortunately, rain came and helped dampen it. Hasn't been enough rain lately, but this storm should help, a lot.

 

[Plai]

I know. Getting out hiking and backpacking has brought me peace this summer. Most of the fires were caused by lightning strikes, though, so why "selfishness?"

I was replying to the fire caused by a campfire at "gender reveal" party. Wood fires in the forest have been banned this summer since before mid-July. There are articles of daily illegal camp fires that fire fighters have to deal with in the last week. Ignoring those rules in current conditions is "selfish". Call it whatever you want.

'I am afraid': Tahoe emergency crews respond to near-daily illegal campfires

Even as wildfires burned across the state of California, as smoke saturated the sky in...

www.sfgate.com

Lake Tahoe forest officials seeing increase in illegal campfires

Tahoe National Forest and U.S. Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit have seen an increase in illegal and abandoned campfires this summer. Despite campfire restrictions being put in

www.tahoedailytribune.com

Firefighters extinguish illegal campfire in South Lake Tahoe

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. — Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit firefighters responded to yet another illegal campfire this week. Engine 341 firefighters responded Wednesday afternoon to an illegal campfire at the Tallac Historic...

www.tahoedailytribune.com

 

[socalgal]

They just issued emergency evacuation orders for an area approximately 20 miles west of Spokane, and a LOT closer to Fairchild AFB. Don't know the scale of the fire but we had 50 mph winds here a little earlier.

Stay safe!

 

[VickiK]

Re: the gender reveal stunt causing the Bobcat Fire. Selfishness and cluelessness. Stupid, stupid people all wrapped up in themselves. 0% containment, about 5,000 acres already burned, and local residents are on evacuation alert. Livestock has already been evacuated. Santa Ana winds are expected today.

 

[Tony]

SLT around 5PM today AQI around 150.

Reno was off the scale yesterday and in the high 400s earlier today. Edited to add that was according to Reno local TV news, but PurpleAir shows it better than Tahoe now.

More trash & people here this summer than I have ever seen in over 60+ years! I expected less people yet it has been like Fourth of July every day. So many people who just don’t care.

I hate to see peoples good times cut short but closing things down is the right move.

Posting from my phone with too limited bandwidth to read all the links so not sure what is closed down besides camping in National forests. I hope you are not recommending Tahoe be closed to non-residents as it was earlier this year. I’m afraid this is the new normal for Tahoe. I don’t think we are going to see big drop in people after Labor Day as usual, maybe only a small drop.

I don’t get the people who trash Tahoe, the coast, parks or anywhere, especially those who eat their fast food in car in a parking lot and dump their garbage out the window when finished or leave bags of trash next to already full cans. If you brought or bought it, dispose of it properly or take it with you.

But also not sure that slowing traffic at roundabout entering SLT is a productive way to try to handle this Summer’s increase in people. We avoided it on Sunday by coming up via 88 and stopped for hike with friend who has a place at Kirkwood.

I used to pickup garbage that I found while walking dogs as I already had bags, but COVID-19 has mostly made me stop that. I did pickup some during mountain bike ride from our cabin yesterday since I was already wearing gloves and had empty bottle cage to put it in.

 

[VickiK]

I have heard Mammoth has had a terrible problem with trash and litter too. Maybe public education or a Keep America Beautiful campaign would help bring the message home.

 

[raytseng]

Its everywhere and a subset of everybody (e.g. just like the where do jerks come from theory and discussion). I don't think its visitors nor ignorance, so campaigns targeting those factors will not address the root cause.

I think its a lashing out against the current pandemic situation and a slight breakdown in society. There is a chunk of people with so much out of their control, need to find a way to exert a modicum of control over something, whether that's graffiti, littering, making a bonfires, ignoring rules or norms that are even a minor inconvenience etc.
I saw a guy at the market who after loading his car, toss his Popsicle wrapper to the wind and gave his cart a gentle shove to the middle of the road and took off. Usually you only see this behavior with smokers and their cigarette butts or homeless who have mental issues/nothing to lose.
I have no good idea how to address this widespread psychological issue.

 

[VickiK]

There was a meme out and about not long ago that a sign of civilized society was putting your shopping cart into the shopping cart corral once you've unloaded it. I believe it.

 

[4ster]

A friend who owns a business that's driven by tourism in June has said pretty much the same thing you're saying.
First the SIP crushed spring, then the busiest and most trashed summer, and now closure of USFS.
He agrees that the closure is smart at this time, but his head is spinning from the happenings of this year.

My take is that businesses that were proactive & set up a safe, efficient system with sensible protocols have been quite successful, others suffered tremendously.

I hope you are not recommending Tahoe be closed to non-residents as it was earlier this year.

No, I am referring to the closure of the campgrounds & fire restrictions. I do think that Tahoe was wrong in encouraging people to come here to camp & beach while there was still a state stay in place order.
Red flag warning today during which absolutely no flames outdoors including propane & natural gas barbecues, which I have never seen till this summer.
Air quality seems to be improving this morning. AQI was 154 when I woke up down to about 100 right now with an east wind.

 

[Jwrags]

There was a meme out and about not long ago that a sign of civilized society was putting your shopping cart into the shopping cart corral once you've unloaded it. I believe it.

I must be uber civilized because I tend to put my cart in the corral and straighten up the other carts that are in it. Or maybe that is just OCD

 

[VickiK]

 

[AmyPJ]

Red flag warning today during which absolutely no flames outdoors including propane & natural gas barbecues, which I have never seen till this summer.
Air quality seems to be improving this morning. AQI was 154 when I woke up down to about 100 right now with an east wind.

THAT is definitely unprecedented.
And east wind generally indicates Santa Anas. No bueno.

That east wind blew in on the massive cold front over Utah today, and has blown down what have to be thousands of trees, and closed schools. I feel like humans are getting exactly what they deserve for trashing our home, even though so many of us try to do the right thing and take care of our planet. I'm feeling pretty doom and gloom lately. I know so many of the areas in CA that are burning, having lived there for many years as an adult, and it makes me really sad. To see one of the most beautiful parts of the entire world going up in flames year after year is truly heartbreaking. It keeps getting worse, just as predicted.

 

[David Chaus]

It’s hazy where I live (PNW) with a smoke advisory in place until about 11am this morning. I smelled the smoke in the air as I went to bed last night and it’s weird around here waking up to this. We’d had a bunch of wildfires on both sides of the Cascades and fire crews were already maxed out with several fires in Central Washington.

 

[Doug Briggs]

Yesterday:

AQI 187

And not yesterday:

Something less.

 

[Plai]

Its everywhere and a subset of everybody (e.g. just like the where do jerks come from theory). I don't think its visitors nor ignorance, so campaigns targetting those factors will not address the root cause.

I think its a lashing out against the current pandemic situation and a slight breakdown in society. There is a chunk of people with so much out of their control, need to find a way to exert a modicum of control over something, whether that's graffiti, littering, making a bonfires, ignoring rules or norms that are even a minor inconvenience etc.
I saw a guy at the market who after loading his car, toss his Popsicle wrapper to the wind and gave his cart a gentle shove to the middle of the road and took off. Usually you only see this behavior with smokers and their cigarette butts or homeless who have mental issues/nothing to lose.
I have no good idea how to address this widespread psychological issue.

I agree with @raytseng . People are giving up. I think the "good enough" culture is wearing thin. People need to see substantial progress in a number of fronts in order to hope again.

 

[4ster]

I must be uber civilized because I tend to put my cart in the corral and straighten up the other carts that are in it. Or maybe that is just OCD

I think we suffer from the same affliction

THAT is definitely unprecedented.

Yup.
Wind is really picking up from the east now. Maybe it will cause some of the fires to burn them back on themselves

 

[TexasStout]

This was the view yesterday

Snow today! Yayyy!!!

This should help with the fire! Still coming down.

 

[Plai]

It's almost 10a PDT and it feels like dusk. Don't think we'll see the sun today. This is really strange, given the air quality index (AQI) is below 50, and the temperature a very temperate 62F.

Anyone have an idea if this is smoke cover or cloud (water vapor) that's covering/blanketing the SF Bay area?