West coast fires

[jerseygal]

Stay safe everyone. It is heartbreaking to watch this on the news. The country's prayers and thought are with you all.

 

[disneychrista]

After 2 days of clear blue skies we are back to smoke.

 

[Lizgistix]

I've had to travel to Idaho, Oregon, and Washington for work these last 3 days and it wasn't until I got to Utah, practically to Ogden, that I was able to see blue skies and clouds. For those of you familiar with the area, I traveled I-84 through Idaho, through part of Oregon, and then I-82 up to Washington. I don't know how close or far away from the fires I was. I just remember the smoke being bad in some places and a constant haze the entire time.

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

After 2 days of clear blue skies we are back to smoke.

I hate this so much! It’s supposed to clear out by Wednesday, but this is getting downright exhausting.

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

this started being suggested a couple days ago on facebook-air filters are the new toilet paper in our area. every size, shape, type has been stripped from local shelves.

until things improve area school districts that were just set to begin their school year this week have cancelled due to the air quality. the 2 local universities that were actually doing full or partial face to face have cancelled as well. hoping things improve-this evening on the air quality scale that maxes out w/the worst at 500 we were at 498/now it's 12:20 a.m. local time and we are at 465

I went on Thursday before the smoke rolled in last Friday, and the filters were already slim pickings.

I took a box fan with a filter to work and people thought I was crazy. I used it at home over the weekend. Monday I took it back, and people were jealous I had filters!

They were noticably dirty by Monday, too. I dragged them back and forth from home to work almost all week last week.

Me too. The pandemic is hard enough but now the air is literally poison. Our AQI has been over 500 and I feel trapped. I keep refreshing the AirNow site hoping to see the numbers drop, which they aren't. I need to stop torturing myself.

This right here. I totally understand the trapped feeling. It felt like poisonous air was just closing in and trapping you, and it felt claustrophobic because I couldn't see past my back fence for days.

I've been struggling with my asthma, but also it's been a mental/emotional struggle as well. I did not see the sky for EIGHT DAYS.

We finally got some wind and rain and our AQI was green this morning. The colors outside seemed so vibrant! The air quality went up to yellow by midday and it got a bit hazy again, but at least it's SO MUCH BETTER.

 

[sonnyjane]

Yup, Washington green and glorious today. Was finally able to go for a walk outside and feel somewhat normal.

 

[linzjane88]

Yup, Washington green and glorious today. Was finally able to go for a walk outside and feel somewhat normal.

I don't mean to brag butttttt....air quality is at an eleven people. ELEVEN!

Although we got a monsoon flash storm yesterday (very weird for our area). I was at work and the hospital 1st floor was flooding which then tripped the fire alarm and it went off for 2 hours. All elevators went down and you could hear water rushing into the elevator shafts from the 1' of water on the first floor. It sounded like a waterfall. Maintenance tried telling us we could still use it. I am a better labor nurse than an elevator technician but....NOPE!

Moral of the story is that it only takes a monsoon of biblical proportions to improve your air quality.

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

Some grim statistics on tonight’s news And we’re headed into triple digit heat again this weekend. No spare the air issued yet, but they anticipate it’ll happen. We just got out of 30 day one.
ETA: I did just see we’re under a high fire warning for this weekend.

https://abc7news.com/health/ca-wildfire-smoke-caused-1k-additional-deaths-researchers-say/6526798/

 

[godisney14]

Looks like back to keeping indoors from the ~100 degree weather in the past few days and the new Solano County fires.

Oh, and there were a handful of small earthquakes on the Calaveras fault.

Mother Nature is sure an interesting personality in 2020.

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

Looks like back to keeping indoors from the ~100 degree weather in the past few days and the new Solano County fires.

Oh, and there were a handful of small earthquakes on the Calaveras fault.

Mother Nature is sure an interesting personality in 2020.

Solano County? Did I miss these? The fires that started over the weekend are Napa and Sonoma.

But I agree with you about the back to indoors. Thankfully we’re safe from the fires - but our area just can’t get a break! It is an exhausting fire season up here in the North Bay.

 

[godisney14]

Solano County? Did I miss these? The fires that started over the weekend are Napa and Sonoma.

But I agree with you about the back to indoors. Thankfully we’re safe from the fires - but our area just can’t get a break! It is an exhausting fire season up here in the North Bay.

You’re correct.
I got Sonoma and Solano mixed up when I was typing earlier.

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

You’re correct.
I got Sonoma and Solano mixed up when I was typing earlier.

Totally understand! I just wasn’t sure if I had been so focused on these, that I missed another one. Based on my location Solano would be dangerous for us too.

 

[disneychrista]

I think the smoke is the worst it has been. Even when day turned to night last month I don't think the smoke was this bad.

I live between the Glass Fire (in Sonoma/Napa) and the August Complex (in Glenn, Lake, Mendocino, Tehama, and Trinity). So I think we are getting it from both directions.

 

[CynBeth]

Good luck!

 

[Jnjtrio]

Yes bringing this back up. We just recently made a weekend trip to Bend in Oregon, for about 40 miles of the trip you could see where the fires had gone through it was amazing and sad. Equipment setup taking trees down still along the road. Summer is on track to be dry, hopes and prayers this fire season for all is mild.

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

Yes bringing this back up. We just recently made a weekend trip to Bend in Oregon, for about 40 miles of the trip you could see where the fires had gone through it was amazing and sad. Equipment setup taking trees down still along the road. Summer is on track to be dry, hopes and prayers this fire season for all is mild.

I sure hope so. Unfortunately I don’t have much confidence. Fire season started early here this year; May 18th and we’ve had fires almost every day. Thankfully they’ve been kept to under 30 acres so far. They have warned us that old burn scars won’t make anybody safe this year and to expect them to burn though. And we’re now in an extreme drought.
Hoping and praying for the best, but it’s going to be a long, stressful season.

 

[disneychrista]

I sure hope so. Unfortunately I don’t have much confidence. Fire season started early here this year; May 18th and we’ve had fires almost every day. Thankfully they’ve been kept to under 30 acres so far. They have warned us that old burn scars won’t make anybody safe this year and to expect them to burn though. And we’re now in an extreme drought.
Hoping and praying for the best, but it’s going to be a long, stressful season.

I read somewhere that we are way ahead of acres burned this year compared to last year at this point. It was either twice as many or four times as many I can’t remember. Be prepared folks.