Under a Blood Red Sun
It's not easy taking pictures of the sun.
Although today was a little bit different; took this photo from our back yard here in Western Washington state, at about two hours before sunset.
The sun around 6:30pm; two hours before sunset
A layer of smoke from wildfires have blanketed our area for the last 48 hours or so. Much of it is from the 1200+ acre (500+ ha) Maple Fire to the south of us; we have friends who live quite close to it.
Tried to capture the deep red shade of the sun, this is MUCH too bright!
Some of the smoke is also coming down from British Columbia, which is having another record year for wildfires. Here in Washington state, wildfires are currently burning about 150,000 acres (60000+ ha) of woodland, all but the Maple Fire east of the Cascade Mountain Range.
Although we are not at risk here on our little peninsula, there is enough smoke in the air that the sun becomes completely invisible about 90 minutes before sunset, and the temperature drops suddenly at that point.
You can't actually smell the smoke, but you know it's there not just because visibility is down, but because (at least in my case) my eyes have been burning and itchy for a couple of days, and I feel like I do "right before I get a cold" except I know I am not getting a cold. Mrs. Denmarkguy says she feels like she's been "on the edge of a headache" for 48 hours.
For the moment, all we can do is send prayers and good vibes to those who are in harm's way, and to the thousands of firefighters — from all over the globe — who are working to contain these blazes.
How about YOU? Are you in a wildfire zone? Are there active fires near where you live? Leave a comment-- share your experiences-- be part of the conversation!
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Thankfully our year has not been very active with fires. I don't even think we have a burning ban right now going on. I even been enjoying making some s'mores from time to time on a campfire during the weekends.
Conditions are "perfect" for fires here. Super wet and long winter and spring, warm and wet late spring and early summer leading to enormous underbrush growth, and then it got bone dry for about 45-60 days. So it's basically a huge tinderbox waiting for a spark.
Thankfully, we got substantial thunderstorm with about 1" of rain on Saturday, which took the edge off, a little. But that was a pretty local phenomenon.
We do get some violent thunderstorms here. The other week I turned everything off after a fluorescent light blub flashed and changed colors before going out for good. Those can tend to start a forest fire so I'm glad we been having an a good year.
No fires here @denmarkguy. I'm happy to say. In fact I'm amazed to see how quickly Hove Lawns turned green again after just a day of rain. I was really concerned it was dead as it looked just like straw for months.
I hope the smoke clears away soon. It doesn't wound good to be breathing it in every day even if you do get lovely photographs as a result.
I can't imagine it's healthy to be breathing this stuff... we're not currently in any of the direct smoke plumes, but the smoke sits like a general haze over everything; least noticeable in the middle of the day, VERY prominent as the afternoons wear on. Night cooling clears things a little by morning.
Sounds horrible @denmarkguy. I hope it clears soon for you. 😊
Oof, that’s rough dealing with those symptoms. Crazy that you can’t actually smell it. Hope you get some relief soon! Between that and the mold from the floods, it’s got to be doing a number on your lungs!
Just kinda have to take it in stride, as best we can. Last year was about as bad as they had seen... and so is this year.
Thank you.
It is a powerful force....can feel the heat just from the picture...