2020 Online fire and smoke maps

[pchewn]

Whoo Hoo! We're #1 (at least on this chart, at this time, for "major cities")

https://www.iqair.com/us/world-air-quality-ranking

 

[AmyPJ]

how has the air quality been in northern Utah?

Tahoe hasn’t been as bad as some of the other areas around here but yesterday afternoon I did not want to even be outside.
AQI around 170 last night which is as bad as it’s been, about 150 this morning. Looks better than it is, at least I can see the mountains
View attachment 110146

I will post another photo later when the wind inevitably brings more smoke in. Even now there is ash floating around. I can't even walk out further than this as it is National Forest land & still closed.

Highest it got yesterday was in the 80s for AQI, I believe. It's not great, and I was hacking on our ride in Park City, but it's still OK to get outside.

Some of you know most of my family live in the PNW. My Mom in Spokane says she can barely see behind her house, and my brother on the Kitsap Peninsula with a usual view of downtown Seattle can barely see the Puget Sound, which is a few hundred yards away. He says the fog horns are blowing constantly. If only it were because of the fog. My nephew is a lineman who lives in Cashmere and has been called to the front lines to help with power outages. I have a dear friend who lives in Whitefish and says it's awful there, too.

 

[Sibhusky]

I'm even closing the doors to the bathrooms because is it's seeping in the vents.

 

[Bad Bob]

I'm calling Spokane viability at 1/4 mile. AQI is at 425 right now. Good day to be working inside.

Heard a good hack at a safety meeting this morning (very redneck, I like it) tape or tie a funace filter to the back of a box fan to help clean the indoor air. If it works, it's good.

 

[4ster]

This morning

this afternoon

 

[socalgal]

This morning
View attachment 110194

this afternoon
View attachment 110195

Wow.

 

[luliski]

A few looks at fire & smoke in eastern WA late yesterday (9.11.20). 160 AQI today in the Chewelah/Colville valley.

View attachment 110009

View attachment 110008


View attachment 110007

Beautiful shots, despite the smoke.

 

[luliski]

I'm calling Spokane viability at 1/4 mile. AQI is at 425 right now. Good day to be working inside.

Heard a good hack at a safety meeting this morning (very redneck, I like it) tape or tie a funace filter to the back of a box fan to help clean the indoor air. If it works, it's good.

I've heard that also. I myself have my HVAC fan and two air purifiers running 24/7.

 

[Wendy]

We in the East have been watching the West with horror. I love the West and feel a deep sense of sadness for all who have lost homes and loved ones, and all who are dealing with the smoke.

The smoke is so bad it has made its way here to the East:

This morning, though the sky is perfectly clear, the sun looked odd as it rose:

It’s very strange, and there’s very little shadow cast by the sun.
The smoke is high enough in the atmosphere to not cause any adverse health effects. Can’t smell it, can only see the weird haze. But it’s a testament to just how much smoke is being generated out West.

 

[scott43]

Yup hazy in Toronto today..

 

[Jilly]

And you could smell it a bit too.

 

[AmyPJ]

The Air Visual app has some cool features. Captured this screen shot.

 

[neonorchid]

We in the East have been watching the West with horror. I love the West and feel a deep sense of sadness for all who have lost homes and loved ones, and all who are dealing with the smoke.

The smoke is so bad it has made its way here to the East:
View attachment 110209
This morning, though the sky is perfectly clear, the sun looked odd as it rose:
View attachment 110210
It’s very strange, and there’s very little shadow cast by the sun.
The smoke is high enough in the atmosphere to not cause any adverse health effects. Can’t smell it, can only see the weird haze. But it’s a testament to just how much smoke is being generated out West.

Yep, Monday 6pm ~ an hour before sunset the haze was so thick here by the NW border of Philadelphia & Montgomery Co. that I found myself staring at the sun with no eye protection as if I were looking at the moon! Haze didn't seem quite as thick this evening but still very much apparent.
Sad suspected effects on migrating birds -

'We Really Don't Know' If Bird Die-Off In New Mexico Is Related To Climate Change, Expert Says

Professor Martha Desmond discusses what might be killing off tens of thousands of birds in New Mexico.

www.wbur.org

 

[Erik Timmerman]

There seems to have been a coating of soot on my car here in VT this morning.

 

[Wendy]

There seems to have been a coating of soot on my car here in VT this morning.

Wow. I can believe it. Has anyone else there experienced the same thing? I read somewhere this AM that a cold front on the east coast could cause the smoke layer, which is currently up around 20,000 feet and being pushed by the jet stream, to descend much lower, and then it can be smelled. Given how chilly it’s been, maybe that’s what happened?

Our sky is even weirder today than yesterday. The sun this AM was bright pink. I could stare at it without sunglasses, as @neonorchid described, up until about 11AM. The sky had a weird orange-yellow cast to it all morning, then it changed to a milky hue. It is perfectly clear, there are no clouds, but there’s not much blue sky to be seen.

 

[chopchop]

I'm calling Spokane viability at 1/4 mile. AQI is at 425 right now. Good day to be working inside.

Heard a good hack at a safety meeting this morning (very redneck, I like it) tape or tie a funace filter to the back of a box fan to help clean the indoor air. If it works, it's good.

I've been doing this (box fan+filter) for years to keep the dust & allergens down in the house. Runs 24x7. Works great and provides white noise at night.

 

[Tricia]

the sunrise over Reno was pink yesterday. Seemed fitting in the moment.

 

[Jwrags]

This was taken a few minutes ago. Very smoky in Portland today. Pictures do not do justice to the smoke, especially when you are not familiar with the location. There is a big hill/ridge behind the tree line. That is smoke, not clouds.

 

[Wendy]

I'm even closing the doors to the bathrooms because is it's seeping in the vents.

This sounds like a horror movie. I’m so sorry.
When I think of Montana, I think of crystal clear mountain air, so clean that you feel as if you can drink it.

 

[Sibhusky]

This sounds like a horror movie. I’m so sorry.
When I think of Montana, I think of crystal clear mountain air, so clean that you feel as if you can drink it.

This is minor compared to either prior years here or anything West of here. The year I moved in here I couldn't see across my driveway. I was younger then, though, so I tolerated it better.

I'm in the orange today, far better than yesterday.