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...fires kicking up here in Oregon again. Smoke form a nearby blaze currently darkening the skies over Portland this afternoon and evening. 90° - 100° temperatures in store for most of the coming week.
Almost the entire Northwest from Northern California through Oregon Washington State, Idaho, Northern Nevada, and Western Montana is under an above normal wildfire risk for both August and September.
Hasn't Florida got uncontained wildfires of their own going on right now? Along with about 1/3 the state under a severe drought warning, and a general equipment shortage. Despite all that, they are on the list of six states sending gear and crews that haven't arrived yet. No matter when help comes, it's appreciated: some of the firefighters on scene have been working insane shifts for weeks in hell (and I don't mean the cute little town in Michigan with the famous ice cream parlor).
Yeah, but that's just how Michigan is. It's like an entire state full of superheros.
I live in Cali and the air right now outside smells of smoke pretty badly. According to the maps I could find online it doesn't look like there are any fires near me, but it's hard to tell if they're up-to-date and current. It's pretty scary.
Hmmm, so far as I know (and I could be wrong) the state isn't in drought at all. We've had so much rain most of the state is in the blue. The worst is in the light greenish area and that's not even halfway to drought. We've been getting rain several times a week or at least once a week, all summer.
We do have 3 fires that are worth mentioning, but two are 11,000 acres and 8,000, which are piddly in comparison to the third one. That one is indeed a biggie. But for a state so large as Florida, three fires in the summer (with all our thunderstorms, we are the number one state for lightning strikes) is fairly low. There may be more that I just didn't find when Googling it though.
Sounds like another bad TV show on the SYFY Channel...
There are people who are pros at fighting wildfires, specially trained and crazy courageous. They live all over the place, they go to the fires wherever they are. My company actually made a system for the government that kept track of all the stuff that the firefighters will need and where it is in the vicinity of the fire. So the firefighters arrive, they go to the databade to see where the closest trucks, sandbags, water, helicopters with giant water buckets, dynamite, whatever they need and order it released to them. They don't bring their own equipment and there is no local widfire fire department. It's all national.
One of my secret desires is to write a book someday about a smokejumper who stumbles into something crazy while fighting a fire. These guys are nuts who skydive into the middle of forest fires to put them out. I've got a plot in mind but I have more excuses to stop me from sitting down and doing it than I have thus far been able to overcome. Someday ... someday ...
I would read a story like that, grinch2901 . Those fire jumpers ROCK!
The first hurdle to writing is just DO it. Just sit down and start writing. Don't even worry if you think it sucks. Believe me, it will be written and re-written lots of times. I'm a want-to-be published author myself, and nothing happened until I made the decision to sit down and start writing. There's a whole slew of us Daz users who are also writers. I also know of some good how-to-write books if you would like to know.
Just go for it!
Sky is like hella yellow in the Bay Area.
It's like living in the Los Angeles basin.
...been that way in Portland OR the last few days as well.
That would make for an awesome urban horror series, like the Dresden Files
..beginning to have breathing issues and a scratchy throat. Report says that the the air quality is "good", maybe if you are living somewhere on the coast. Here in the city residual smoke is combining with low level pollution and temps heading to around 100°.
Now that is a direction I never considered! I was thinking some sort of conspiracy thriller, guy jumps into a fire only to find some nefarious goings on by people who presumably set said fire to cover their tracks, etc. But if they were a den of werewolves .... or vampires ...
Now my gears are turning!
2 months, huh? I'm in north western New South Wales (Australia) and we haven't had decent rainfall for close to 18 months. I'm on town water and the water supply is down to roughly 20% of capacity, may be below that now. Substantial rain's not predicted until early next year, if I heard correctly. No one can agree on when "it's the worst drought since" - it ranges from 16 years to 800 years.
Most farmers around here are pretty smart, though. They sold their stock when they realised the severity of the drought and stockpiled feed for their remaining stock. Anything left in the ground is being eaten by kangaroos. Except for my backyard, which is now a dustbowl - I have photos of it, back when it had grass.
Summer's going to be hot and dry, too. With a national park down that road and a state forest up that road, I feel it'll be interesting times ahead.
At least for San Francisco itself, it's now the month of Fogust... so Karl cleans the air in the City, where I work.
heh, happy t be of service
..the sunrise here in Portland OR this morning..
Which planet? Are you sure you're not orbiting Betelgeuse?
Exactly my thought
...yes this is normally cloudy wet Portland OR, not Betelgeuse-5a. That's how thick the smoke is here and it is no longer just in the upper atmosphere liek last week, but down to street level. Need to head to the chemist's for some eye drops in a bit.
..yep. stuffy nose, sinuses were aching last night, eyes irritated/watering (even after eyedrops) and throat congested.
For myself it's a choice of windows open and get some air while breathing the rubbish, or windows closed and not get any sleep because it gets too hot and stuffy (even with a fan) as I don't have AC.
The bad air quality alert where I am has been extended through Friday now. as fires in Washington state are spreading a thick plume of smoke over Portland today it almost looks like a layer of Altostratus clouds hanging low over the city Even at zenith the sky is very hazy whereas yesterday I could still see a bit of blue.
Below are pics I took of the early sunrise this morning and light coming through the blinds.
I use a nasal strip, cool mist humidifier and the Neil med nasal gel. Gel keeps the nose wetter longer than saline. I avoid decongestants due to rebound.