I want to extend my thoughts and prayers to all of those impacted by the wild fires up and down the west coast. I think of those who have lost their homes and/or evacuated from approaching flames to the fire fighters who have bravely been battling these fires.
My wife and I left Los Angeles August 31st for two weeks in Seattle (two of our daughters and their husbands live up there). At that point in time Northern California was battling significant wild fires and the smoke from those fires had migrated to Southern California. As we took off and started the flight north, there was a layer of brown smoke all of the way up the coast to Oregon. From Oregon on up to Seattle, the skies were clear and we were thankful to get out of the smoke.
Starting with our second week in Seattle, Oregon was now battling a number of fires and so was eastern Washington. Mid-week, the winds changed and the huge plume of smoke that had been blown out to sea from California and Oregon came inland and created the pictures I have attached. I took these with my cell phone by one of our daughters house because I was blown away with how weird the sun looked. It actually got worse as the week went on with no sun getting through.
We returned to Los Angeles Sunday September 13th. On that day going to the airport in Seattle, the smoke was so thick you couldn’t even see the downtown high-rises as we drove right by them on Interstate 5 (the freeway literally butts up to downtown). Taking off from the airport was like rising through a thick layer of clouds that had a brown tinge to them. On the 2.5 hour flight coming south over Washington, Oregon and Northern California, looking out the window at 35 thousand feet, there was nothing to see but the brown cloud below us. It boggles my mind that there would be a smoke plume of that size. Think about any flight you have had of that duration and think about if there was nothing but smoke below you for the entire flight.
Seattle Sunshine
Street Scene
The air was so brown, these shots almost look like sepia photography.
Thoughts?
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I can’t imagine. How terrible. My daughter lives on a small island off he coast of BC and she tells me the air quality is so bad they are advised to stay indoors and you can’t see 2 feet in front of you. It has even drifted over to Alberta where my son and family are but not as bad. I feel for the folks living in the wake of these awful fires.
I wondered how far north it had gone….ugh. My lungs are just now starting to feel normal as the air here in Southern California is slowly clearing up!
Just terrible. Just one more thing people are helpless to fight. feel terrible for those who have lost so much.
The smoke is awful, but still nothing compared to the loss of house and property that has impacted so many.
Thanks for the insider’s view. It’s been disturbing from afar.
Not to get too dramatic, but it has an end of world look and feel to it.
It does but I choose to believe we’ll figure it out.
I do also, but it does have that look…..have a great week!
Terrible and horrible. When these fires will go down God only knows. The pictures are looking so nice but this place must be so bad right now.
I read a couple of days ago that Vancouver, British Columbia, Seattle, Washington and Portland, Oregon had the worse air quality on the planet. Talking to one of our Seattle daughters yesterday…the air is getting better, but that would be over a week of what my picture looked like…ugh!
Sad Kirt where are we taking our world and we humans are all suffering at the hands of a few
Reblogged this on By the Mighty Mumford and commented:
“THE BIG HAIR DIARIES” blogger, Samantha, live out that way, too. LET’S PRAY FOR ALL THE FOLK OUT THAT WAY, PLEASE!
Thanks for the re-blog Jonathan!
Thanks for the reblog, Jonathan!
YUPPERS!
These are unreal pictures, thank you for sharing! It’s crazy how far the smoke has reached, across the country and heard it’s reaching other countries. My prayers and thoughts go out to those families directly affected and the first responders!
Hard to believe you guys had this thick smoke for so long. I still can’t believe how weird the sun looks in this shot. Thanks for stopping by….love your blog!
Not being able to see the city skyline from the freeway sounds amazing, Kirt. I lived there for three years and I made that drive countless times. The photos are incredible. I feel so bad for the people affected by those fires.
So surreal….had an armageddon feel to it.
Yikes! The photographs say it all. Out skies have gotten back to blue but they were grey.
So surreal, all of it. I know Oregon and Washington got a bit of a reprieve with rain, but just read this morning, that fires were kicking up again in Northern Cal and specifically wine country. ugh!!
Yes, they do look surreal. I hope the fires cease soon. Horrible.
Great shots, Kirt, it has been very ominus but happy to see it finally clearing up. Lets pray that the worst is over, even though fire season lasts through November around here.
Now that we have another heat wave starting….we are to be at 105 by Wednesday. Ugh! Glad you are OK!! Be safe!
The brownish-red sun is a fascinating shot, but the reason behind it makes me shudder. I hope the fires and smoke subside soon.
I swear I responded to this….either I’m going senile or WordPress is????? I am assuming you got the rain last week??? Hope that cleared it up!! I just read that Northern California fires are going strong through wine country…..so sad and terrifying. Hope all is well with you guys!!
Oh, no, that’s bad news about the fires! The rain did clear up our smoke last week, but this morning it’s back. Fortunately not as thick as before, and I’m hoping it stays that way. Hope you’re staying well, too. 🙂
We are staying well!!! Sorry to hear your smoke is back….smoke from fires down here are going into the desert…it’s just blinking hot! Take care!!
Hi Kirt! The fires were awful and a spread over the west coast. Everywhere was orange. Smoke and COVID19 are a bad mix.😞😷
I so agree! It was so surreal!
I feel there are some unprecedented times coming before.
Very frightening.
I hope the fires will be put out soon.
They just had a bunch of rain, so that has helped a lot!
We’ve had a lot of smoke and haze here too, along with the red ball sun at times. I sure hope and end to the fires comes soon!
My wife and I just spent the last two days driving from LA to the Oregon/Washington border on our way back up to Seattle. Smokey air all the way up to extreme Northern California…but Oregon…no smoke. Looks and feels great to see deep blue skies!! We drove yesterday up to Klamath Falls in southern Oregon and spent today at Crater Lake(great photo day for me) and then drove along the eastern Cascades in Oregon to the Columbia River. I’m aware of the large fire in Colorado by Rocky Mountain National Park and a new one in So Cal…ugh. We did drive through areas today that had been ravaged in Oregon and it just breaks your heart seeing the damage. I’m with you hoping it ends soon. Sorry to be so wordy…my best to you!!