My son is in the smoke from the fires. He sent this pic this am.

[dixiegrrrrl]

He lives in Western Wash,. up near the Canadian border.
He took this pic at 10 this morning, outside his work area. Says ash is falling, from the fires in both Montana and in eastern Wash.

What you can't see: huge trees, mountain backdrop.

[Hoyt]

1. Cool. Looks like it was taken from surface of Mars or something. Hope he stays safe.

[kentuck]

2. It's been very smoky and overcast today...

...in southern Colorado.

[ProudLib72]

6. My wife got sick yesterday

taking a hike in the foothills outside of Denver. I had a cough, but she had fatigue and a bad headache.

[Major Nikon]

10. Just got back from flying over Colorado yesterday

Some airports were reporting instrument conditions just because of the haze. Even at 12,000' MSL you couldn't get above it.

[beveeheart]

19. I have chronic dry eye, so spoke with my eye doctor because

my eyes are really hurting. She said to up the number of times I use gel drops from 4 times a day to 6-8 while it's smoky. Seems to be helping.

[niyad]

68. the smoke and haze were reallllly bad on monday!! I tried going for a walk, made it three blocks.

and I don't have respiratory issues. I feel for all who do!!

[chillfactor]

3. I live in New Mexico...

our mountains are all hazy with smoke......older people having problems breathing including my roommate.

[womanofthehills]

55. I'm in NM too - two friends are having trouble breathing

I'm in the middle of the state (high desert) and it's all hazy.

[LisaM]

4. It isn't quite that bad in Seattle, but there is a little ash falling

Last edited Tue Sep 5, 2017, 08:29 PM - Edit history (1)

and we awoke to a red sunrise.

[dixiegrrrrl]

11. "little ash falling".....

I remember when we thought Mt. st. Helens was gonna blow towards us in Seattle, and they were giving the reports on est. ash fall.
It staggers me how many and how big those fires are, to carry that much smoke and ash to the West Coast.

[BBG]

59. 2:00 AM Red Moon

Was redder than the moon during the BC wildfire smoke inversion a couple of weeks ago. And the air quality is toast. It literally tastes like stale toast.

[gratuitous]

5. Same story in Oregon

I couldn't see the mountain less than two miles away from my office window this morning. This afternoon I can't see the church spire less than a mile away. It's very smoky, and the particulates in the air are coating everything, including people's lungs. Some nitwit started the fire in the Columbia River Gorge (which has jumped the river from Oregon to Washington) while playing with fireworks out in the forest.

[Warren DeMontague]

8. Oh, is that how we got here?

Thanks a lot, to the fireworks-playing nitwit.

[leftstreet]

13. Yeah, and they were 'giggling' while doing it

The Eagle Creek fire

Witness: Teens giggled as they threw fireworks off cliff, igniting Eagle Creek fire

A woman who was hiking in the Columbia River Gorge on Saturday afternoon says she happened across a group of teens who were lighting fireworks and throwing them into Eagle Creek Canyon, igniting the now 10,000-acre Eagle Creek fire.

Liz FitzGerald told Oregon Public Broadcasting that she is “pretty sure” she heard the teens giggle as one threw fireworks into the bone-dry surroundings and another video-recorded the act.
http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/index.ssf/2017/09/witness_teens_giggled_as_they.html

[Warren DeMontague]

14. Oh for fuck's sake.

I'll remember that as I'm outside trying to breathe.

[dixiegrrrrl]

49. Fireworks and a smoke bomb, says an eyewitness

She saw them from a short distance, as she got closer she says she smelled smoke, then fire, so went back down the trail till she could report it.
If they had been my kids, they would paying towards the cost of fire fighting till they were 80.

[Warren DeMontague]

50. They got their smoke bomb, for sure.

gaaaaak.

[dixiegrrrrl]

16. I found this pic here yesterday, dunno if you saw it...

[flying rabbit]

57. Damn.

Thanks for posting

[dixiegrrrrl]

20. Where did the fire jump the Gorge, pls.

Have friends in the area.

[gratuitous]

21. At Archer Mountain on the Washington side

Which is opposite Horsetail Falls on the Oregon side, just west of milepost 35 on I-84.

[dixiegrrrrl]

22. thank you.

Just found video......arrgghh

http://www.oregonlive.com/

[askyagerz]

45. It's def been creepy looking here in Eugene

Like we're on an alien planet at times

[Warren DeMontague]

7. We're getting ash in Portland, too.

Air quality is beyond bad.

[Amaryllis]

32. Yep. Haven't seen this since Mt. St. Helens blew. That was worse, though. as far as ash.

August was the hottest on record in the area. Many days in row this month in the high 90s or even over 100, with smoke. So many I've lost track. Normally we don't get days over 100, or if we do, only a few.

But we also had 5 ice storms in 4 weeks last winter, which has never happened before. OFten we don't have any, or maybe one, or two at the most.

[benld74]

9. Geez!? Looks like a SYFY movie scene

[2naSalit]

12. I took that same picture earlier today...

over here in burningdown, Montana!

[barbtries]

15. One of my best friends in OR

posted a map of where she lives - surrounded by at least 10 active fires. My niece and her family are in ID - I was just in MT this past week and miles from the Western border (bozeman/butte), and you could smell the smoke and see the haze.

It's unreal. My friend also posted a long opinion piece about the years when we did not let the forests burn at all. Mother Nature asserting herself. Our species has been, and is, a terrible steward of our planet.

All the best to your son that he remains safe and well.

[dixiegrrrrl]

17. Our species has been, and is, a terrible steward of our planet.

Yep. and I get so very angry about that,so does he.

[LisaM]

27. Agreed, I listened to a forest ranger a few weeks ago on how we shouldn't have

prevented so many fires.

At least, though, that was done with good intentions (people not understanding the benefits of regular fires and cleaning out the forests). Very wrong decision, but it was done with an eye to conserve forests.

[cilla4progress]

30. hi (again) barb

(we spoke here earlier)...

My daughter lives in Bozeman and we have a trip planned there later in September! We were going to head to Glacier but fires and smoke too bad there.

I live in north central WA, right in the middle of the thick smoke shown on the map above. Stuck inside. Hope my horses don't suffer too badly in it.

[barbtries]

35. me too

i was traveling for work but because of the difficulty getting flights, i go 1 day traveling, 1 day working, 1 day traveling. I thought i might get up super early on day 3 and go see yellowstone which i never have done. Google maps said the road was closed.

it's a terrible time for natural disasters. hope you and your horses all come out well.

[cilla4progress]

41. Thanks

We got to spend some time in Yellowstone with our daughter in May. Still some snow on the ground and not too crowded. We prefer to travel off-season.

It's as amazing as you've heard. The wildlife and the the geothermal activity. Just wonderful. One way to feel good about this country.

[Warpy]

18. Here in NM, the mountains 8 miles away look so close

I feel like I could reach out my kitchen window and touch one.

Can't see them today. And today isn't a bad day, we got a cool front from the east last night.

I hope winter storms start to roll in early this year. But then, that means mudslides all over the burned out land.

ETA: Yes, I've got the "western cough" too. Coughing up a lot of junk.

[yonder]

23. almost 40 years in SW Idaho

this is one of the worst fire seasons I've seen. Since July 1st, only a handful of days below average temps, most way above and since August, generally smokey coming from all over the PNW. Air quality today listed as unhealthy (+/- 170). North of here much worse: very unhealthy to hazardous (200+). Possible relief in a week or so. The moon last night looked like a lunar eclipse. Chinese hoax, my ass.

[dixiegrrrrl]

61. Every once in a while I get homesick for Puget Sound.

This week has certainly put a lid on that.
Worried about family members up there.
they tell me they are watching Irma and worried about me! At least you can breathe the wind.

Asking the gods for a sign..like maybe blowing Mar-Lego flat.

[yonder]

63. the real sign from the gods would be

blowing both Mal-a-Largeo and Rush's place down while sparing everybody else. Rick Scott's place too. One might think that would get some attention from the redcaps. Maybe.

[PatrickforO]

24. So, Irma at 180 mph winds is the strongest hurricane ever.

And these wild fires on the west coast are huge and out of control.

But...climate change IS a hoax, right?

Hey, let's get Senator Inhofe to go out to CA. Maybe he can find a snowball!

I know that would make ME feel better!

[regnaD kciN]

25. It's darker than that just outside Seattle...

...due to the Norse Peak Fire burning just east of Mount Rainier.

We've had ash falling at our house since last night.

[suffragette]

48. It's eerie, isn't it? At one point, when the sun almost broke through the haze, it cast

pinkish sun spots on the carpet inside.

It is keeping it from being mid to high nineties today as initially forecast but since it's keeping the heat in, it was still @ 80 degrees at midnight last night.

I want my clouds and rain back.

[leftieNanner]

26. I'm in Southern Oregon

And this is what it's been like for several weeks. I hate wearing the mask, but the air is dangerously unhealthy.

We have rain in the forecast, but unfortunately, it's in combination with more thunderstorms. UGH!

[pnwest]

28. Same here in Westport, WA at the coast - add in a marine layer, and

it's really spooky. No wind, very still, eerie, surrounded by orange glow. It was very orange last night and this morning, the orange is going away here now, I think the on-shore flow is slowly returning and will blow this all out in the next day or two. Little ash film here, too.

[dixiegrrrrl]

69. Thanks for that info. I was wondering about the coast. n/t

[jalan48]

29. Smoky here in western Oregon but I think it's clearing a bit.

[Amaryllis]

34. It doesnt smell as smoky in POrtland today as it did yesterday.

[jalan48]

36. Same here in Eugene.

[Amaryllis]

37. Maybe the wind shifted? It was horrible yesterday. I was so glad I have AC because it was nearly 100

but air quality too bad to open windows even when it started to cool off.

[jalan48]

42. I don't have Ac so I put some frozen bottles of water in front of a fan (I saw that here on DU)

I'm not sure it was much cooler but I think it made me feel better

[Shrike47]

39. I'm also in Eugene.

[jalan48]

44. Hi Neighbor! I'm in the Friendly.

[MerryBlooms]

53. I'm in the Rogue Valley and

the smoke and ash is horrendous this evening. Our cars are covered in ash and the smoke is thick like a fog. We have a chance of lightning/showers Thursday... unless we get an incredible amount of rain with the storm, there will be even more fires. My heart is just broken seeing the destruction of so many areas I know so well and love. The whole state is on fire. I can hardly let my mind think of the amount of wildlife lost.

[cilla4progress]

31. Hope

this isn't the new normal.

[Hortensis]

43. It'll be a long time before large regions of vastly overgrown areas are

burned over so they don't feed these huge fires. Until then, I'm guessing many years will see a lot of fires. Back in SoCal most years saw at least one or two hazes to blankets of smoke over our little mountain valley just west of Pasadena, and I guess that was just a warm-up.

[mcar]

33. That is awful

I cannot imagine. I'm in FL in Irma's path but I wish him well.

[renate]

70. good luck!

I'm assuming you're evacuating or getting ready to... I'm really sorry you have to go through this and I hope you and your home get through unscathed.

[Shrike47]

38. I used to work in a tall building 1.3 miles from our house. Couldn't see it Sunday.

I don't like being able to see the air I breath.

Eugene, Oregon.

Today I can see 2 miles, whoopee! Rain in the forecast but also thundershowers.

[Amaryllis]

46. HOpe it's a downpour so it nullifies any lightening strikes.

[mountain grammy]

40. Wow!

We just returned to smokey Colorado from a 3 week trip to CA and OR with a few stops in between. Trip was smokey on and off.. really bad here in CO mountains.

[TalenaGor]

47. work Seattle, live renton

The sky has a weird orange haze...almost like sunset but not pretty....

When I go outside I sneeze alot....you can see ash like mist

So weird...

[dixiegrrrrl]

71. Yup..know where you are.

I am so old I remember when it was the Renton valley and there were a lot of truck farms and dairy herds.
Hoping the winds off the Sound come soon for everyone there.

[riversedge]

51. whow. yes, beautiful.

[eleny]

52. Here, just 8 miles west of Denver our sun was a deep red as it started to set yesterday

It was startling and beautiful at the same time.

[flibbitygiblets]

54. Never thought I'd be praying for rain in the Oregon wilderness

It's scary out here because there aren't a lot of ways off this mountain, and there are idiot rednecks shooting (as rednecks are wont to do) at whatever rednecks feel the need to shoot at. And they toss beer cans out (so they're drinking and driving), and many of them smoke. Freaking scary.

Total atheist over here praying to anyone who'll listen to send our parched state some much-needed rain. I could just fucking cry.

[JoeOtterbein]

56. Wow, I'm so sorry and bummed. My favorite place in the US is along the Columbia River.

[Akacia]

58. Shelton, Washington here and

my eyes were irritated just getting out of my car to get in the house after work. I work with children and no outside time for them today because of the smoke and falling ash! On top of that it`s so hot and sticky. Hoping for some rain!

[Doreen]

60. My boyfriend's daughter lives in Tacoma and

she told him there was ash falling. In Centralia there is this odd overcast. The sun has been red when it was out enough to show and last night the moon was blood red. My eyes are irritated. My breathing has actually been a little labored. I have no idea if it has anything to do with it but oddly my ears have felt stuffy. I do not know about that last one.

[dixiegrrrrl]

72. If you put a cold rather damp washcloth over your nose/mouth and breathe in, that wll help.

use it off and on when you can. Gives a respite and eases the lungs.

And. when the air clears, use of a decongestant helps for a couple days to move that crap out of the body.
been there, done that.

[Doreen]

73. Thanks for the info.

[chwaliszewski]

62. I live about 1 hour from the fire here in WA.

It's pretty smoky and ashy out.

[flibbitygiblets]

64. So sorry to hear, my friend. Please stay safe, you're in our thoughts.

[burrowowl]

65. Scary photo!

[Duppers]

66. This is horrible! 😢

R&K

Thanks for posting.

[niyad]

67. dear goddess, that is frightening!

[Initech]

74. 1/2 of America is drowning, the other 1/2 is on fire.

And our president isn't doing shit about it. Thanks republicans!