Seattle Forrest

It's raining ash. The sky might as well be brown concrete. The sun is red. Can't see hills a few miles away. Everything smells like a campfire. Brimstone couldn't make this worse.

Seattle was inundated for half a month earlier this summer with smoke from the million acres of BC that were burning, now it's from local fires.

3alarmer 

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...that's bad. We had a year like that two or three years back where all the smoke from a couple of big fires settled in the Valley. Stay off your bike.

Seattle Forrest

I look forward to an after work ride to help me deal with the stress of the day. But not lately. I'm breathing as little as I can.

Scarbo

I fully empathize with you. In recent days we've had 100%-plus temps plus a ton of smoke in the air down here in California as well due to all of the wildfires and at times it has been really miserable. Last night, however, the glorious Pacific breezes started to kick in and we've cooled off dramatically and the smoke, while it has not disappeared, has been shifted around a bit to provide much needed relief.

Scarbo

Yes. Good advice. That's what I'd been doing too until today when I finally got a ride in. Breathing all the muck in and driving it deep into your lungs can only hurt you.

Wileyrat

Bummer.

I spent my first 41 yrs up there, and I hate seeing things like that.

Btw, I've skied at Crystal a time or two.

Ogsarg

That sucks. Seems like the whole Western US is on fire.

Stay safe and pray for some cooler weather.

B. Carfree

I feel your pain. For the past week, I can't even make out the street light next door for the impenetrable smoke. We're not quite surrounded yet, so a steady west wind could break us out of jail here.

B. Carfree

Weren't you there in 1999? There was a beautiful August night of lightning. I happened to be out all night working and enjoyed every minute. It flashed all night long pretty much everywhere. The next morning was the last sunrise of summer. Those lightning strikes had started hundreds of fires, many of which got completely out of control.

draganm

it more or less is, either on fire or covered in smoke. Today was 70 degree's here in CO, I think mainly from the smoke which blew in yesterday evening.

Wildfire season in the US used to be 2 or 3 months a year, maybe 4 in a really dry year. Now it starts in March and doesn't seem to end till November. We had a really bad year here a few years ago and I just remember how depressing it was. All you saw and smelled was smoke. I went for a ride and was wheezing for days

What's even weirder is that while a big chunk is on fire, another big chunk is under Water and another big chunk is getting ready to possibly go under water.

is this the zombie apocalypse?

jbell_64

If you think that smoke is bad, try working 16 hour shifts on the fireline for 14 days straight. You wouldn't believe what comes out your nose during a hot shower lol.

f4rrest

The LA Tuna fire came over the ridge right behind our backyard.

John00

It's been like that for over two months here in bend Or. There are 13 fires within 100 miles of here, and with dry lightning forecast for Thursday & Friday, there will more.. I've been riding with a HIPAA fine particulate respirator so long, I don't even notice it anymore.

Beach Bob

I hear ya. We've had a summer of smoke here. I even snuck out of work early today to get a good ride in, but it was too smokey in my part of town to even try.

indyfabz

The main building of the Sperry Chalet--a backcountry hotel in Glacier N.P. that dated to the 1930s--burned to the ground the other day. Last I heard, the nearly all of the west side of Going to the Sun Road is closed and everyone was ordered to evacuate that area.

Seattle Forrest

I really love riding my bike in the Methow Valley. It’s heaven on earth. The town of Mazama is under an evacuation order, along with Lost River (where my favorite winery is). Every time we go out there, the people treat us very well, it’s horrible what they’re going through.

Here’s a picture from Seattle this morning:

Seattle Forrest

I just saw this USFS model.

The Diamond Creek Campfire is up to 100,000 acres. It's burning up the last large sections of the Pasayten that were unburnt or ever will be in my lifetime. It was 100 % avoidable.

Seattle Forrest

I've seen the Chalet, hoped to stay there one day.

draganm

then again, "just smoke" doesn't seem so bad right now.

Any cyclists in Florida, do not ride in this

Scarbo

Hieronymous Bosch always gets his point across. The man was way ahead of his time.

Masque

Here's the sun at 4pm yesterday. And a cloudless day in the neighborhood. Welrd to be considering the indoor trainer in September. :/

redlude97

first cross race is this weekend and I'm sidelined due to weather

rgconner

That seems like a real pain in the ash...

TimothyH

I think a lot of this needs to burn. Forest fires are natural processes and not burning isn't natural.

Forests which don't burn regularly are different from forests which do. Underbrush builds up without regular burning and then when fire does come it burns hotter and more intense, scorching the top layer of soil so that seeds can't germinate. This in turn leads to erosion and a domino effect ensues such that the land can become barren. Forests which burn regularly have less underbrush and fire is less intense.

I'm not advocating that we do nothing. It's just that the past 100 years of fire prevention has contributed as much to the conditions which caused this as it has helped prevent it.


-Tim-

Masque

Pretty sure fire prevention isn't what led to the hottest summer on record, leading to record-setting dry conditions, leading to....