OldRailfan

Living in one of the spots/regions in BC marked very dark, this week will be a total loss.
Can't see across the lake, but we get the most remarkable sunsets.

WhyFi

It seems much better now than it did last night, or even this morning when I stuck my head out at 6am - is it supposed to take a turn for the worse?

MinnMan

i agree. the smoke smell is gone now, an the upper atmosphere is clear. an particulate readings are better - they were all in the 150s and 160s in the Metro earliler
https://www.purpleair.com/map?opt=1/....9381/-93.2333

But tomorrow is supposed to be worse

"However, on Saturday northerly winds behind a cold front will bring more smoke from wildfires ..... This reinforcing batch of heavy smoke is expected to arrive starting Saturday morning. Smoke will continue pouring into the state throughout Saturday and into Sunday. "

https://www.mprnews.org/story/2021/0...t-into-tuesday

I may set my alarm for early in the morning, wake up and decide if a ride is possible.

WhyFi

****ity ****. I may try and squeeze out for a ride in the morning, then, too, of the not-too-heavy-breathing variety. I'm going to get a little stir-crazy otherwise.

Seattle Forrest

I'm really sorry you guys are going through this. Summers are so fleeting this far north, it sucks to have to consider giving the last day of July up. Hope it works out for you. Don't ride if it's too bad.

RGMN

It's been getting worse as the evening is going on. Purple Air showed particulates in the 160s earlier this evening, now it's in the upper 170s/low 180s. I'm planning on getting up early and seeing if I can get a light ride in.

RGMN

Make your own -

terrymorse 

Even simpler. Just tape a 20-inch square filter to a box fan.

We have a couple of these box fan + filter setups for emergencies. I ordered the filters here.

MinnMan

Looks like we had a partial reprieve. pm25 is down in the low 100s and forecast to stay that way for a while. I'm going for a ride. Purple air on Sunday, though.

CliffordK

Oh.... lightweights.

We had the AQI in the 300 to 500 range, or higher last year. I think it was worse at my place. I wore my COVID mask much of the time, and had to wash the smoke out of it every evening.

I did ride some, shuttling vehicles.

However, it wouldn't be my choice for a Century ride.

In 2017, however, I did hit some pretty dense smoke riding from Portland to Eugene.

Ray9

We are not fish, but we live in an ocean of gas composed of hydrogen and oxygen. The mixture and purity of this composition is important for our health and wellbeing and aberrations could have profound consequences. As individuals we live in a world of choices. We can choose not to expose ourselves to tobacco or abuse alcohol and drugs both prescription and illegal. We can avoid situations that put us in peril. It is a world of choices which some may call Darwinism.



But there is only so much we can do because as individuals we are not in complete control of our environment. The air we breathe flows from west to east due to the Earth’s rotation and the gravitational influence of our large moon. What happens upstream has a determinant effect thousands of miles away. The air is free, but an ill wind can blow no good for all.



As a believer in science this writer has concerns; our world comes with no guarantees. Global warming or global cooling are both real possibilities and each has a momentum that would not easily be stopped by the fragility of human control. What is happening in western United States and Canada with these wildfires is a Pandora’s Box of bad stewardship of the land.



Unseasonably cool weather in the Northeast while much of the rest of the country is an oven is observable to anyone with or without a degree in climatology. These wildfires are tantamount to volcanic eruptions, sunspot activity or the Earth’s wobble but they are avoidable because they are caused by human negligence. It has nothing to do with automobile emissions or too many airplanes; that is politics. What is happening in the west is bad science and greed.



Do I ride my bicycle slower so I will breathe less? You tell me.



Possible future for Western wildfires: Decade-long burst, followed by gradual decline -- ScienceDaily



Six trends to know about fire season in the western U.S. – Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet (nasa.gov)



My house:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/ma...NH&animation=1


My brother's house:


Alafaya, FL Forecast | Weather (msn.com)

RGMN

Managed to get a 30 miler in this morning. When I started the MPCA showed the Twin Cities at 111 particles:


By the time I finished it was up to 157. If it had been this high when I started I probably wouldn't have gone.

genejockey 

Last fire season, I used a combination of PurpleAir.com and Weather Underground's Wundermap. I found that the "wind streaming" option on Wundermap would tell me where the air was coming from, and Purpleair would tell me what that air would be like. It allowed me to predict that even if the AQI was >150 at that moment where I was going to be in an hour or so, by the time I got there it would be lower. Conversely, I could predict the arrival of plumes. It was fascinating - and dread-inducing - watching the bad numbers creeping up the Peninsula from the Santa Cruz Lightning Complex Fires, and then coming in through passes and gaps in the hills, driven by the local winds.

WhyFi

I headed out with the intent of doing ~50 miles at a moderate pace. Twenty minutes in, my lungs weren't happy, so I scrapped my original plans and limited myself to a ~20 mile loop. Ick.

MinnMan

Well, I did the century. Started before 7 AM, when the air was OK. The air seemed mostly OK for the first few hours. We caught a rain shower around Waconia, and that helped the local conditions. The last couple of hours probably the air wasn't so good, but it didn't bother me in the saddle. pm 2.5 readings when I got home were in the 150-160 range. Not great, but not too scary.

Tomorrow looks bad, though.

MinnMan

No we don't.

I'd comment further on your post, but it it belongs in P&R. So 'nuf said.

zandoval 

One of the biggest dangers in even light smoke is the Micro Aerosolized particles suspended in the smoke. These particles lodge in the cell walls of your lungs and cause long term inflammation. The long term inflammation can be just as bad as an infection causing bronchitis. But in this case the inflammation is not from bacteria or fungi so there is no antibiotic treatment. Ask any fireman... Its a serious matter.

Ray9

Really? Please expand.

urbanknight

​​​​​​​The link isn't working (at least not for me).

MinnMan

Hydrogen, nitrogen....what's a handful of protons and neutrons between friends?

MinnMan

In my first reply to you, I said that I wouldn't, and explained why. Go to P&R if you want to have that discussion.

MinnMan

for some reason, the "https" doubles. Try this

terrymorse 

Sorry, some editor weirdness mucked up the URL.

I corrected my posting, please try it again.

MinnMan

Interesting. First, I assume that Micro Aerosolized particles are essentially the 2.5 micron particulates (2.5 pm)?

Second, how would you define "light smoke"? The 2.5 pm readings on even good days are not zero. EPA guidelines don't recommend that healthy people avoid all outdoor exercise until an AQI index of 150. Are you suggesting that these guidelines are too lax?

shelbyfv

Apparently he can't stop himself Congrats on the century